
Book __^-a- 

Qipyiiohl W 

COHYRIOIIT DEPOSIT. 




HOW TO 

Clear Land of Stump5,Bdulder5 or Trees 

Dig Ditches 

Grade Roads 

Excavate Cellars and FoundationTrenches 

Sink Wells 

Dig Holes for Poles and Posts 

Break up Hardpan or other Hard Soil 

Plant and Cultivate FruitTrees 

Start Log Jams and Ice Gorges 

with 



<i]!Ill!l!i> 




PI Ar>)^or»f-rt 



INDEX 

Bar for Punching Holes 56 

Biglree Stumps 35 

Blasting Caps 105 

Blasting by Electricity 1 08 

Blasting Machines 1 09 

Blasting Powder Kegs 92 

Blasting Supplies 105 

Boulder Blasting . . . 45 

Branch Offices 120 

Burning Out Stumps 19 

Caps: Blasting 105 

Cap Crimpers 107 

Cartridges of High Explosives 94 

Cases of High Explosives 92 

Cedar Stumps : Western 31 

Cellar Digging 63 

Charging 103 

Clearing Land 13 

Connecting Wire 110 

Cultivating Fruit Trees 79 

Cypress Stumps 39 

Detonators 95 

Ditching 51 

Draining Swamps 60 

Electrical Blasting 1 08 

Electric Fuzes 110 

Explosives: Principle of 93 

Felling Trees 41 

Fir Stumps : Western 31 

Foundations : Excavating for 63 

Fuse 105 

Fuzes : Electric 110 

Hardpan Blasting 69 

Ice Blasting 87 

Implements Used in Land Clearing 21 

Introduction 7 

Judson Powder R. R. P. Bag 94 

Kegs of Blasting Powder , 92 



Leading Wire 110 

Log Jams 90 

Log Splitting 41 

Notes 1 04 

Offices: Branch 120 

Ordering 112 

Packages of Explosives 97 

Pine Stumps: Southern 27 

Pine Stumps: Western 31 

Planting Fruit Trees 79 

Plowing with Dynamite 69 

Post Hole Digging 65 

Precautions 113 

Priming 101. Ill 

Principle of Explosives 93 

Redwood Stumps 35 

Rehable Blasting Machines 1 09 

Road Building 63 

Second-Growth Stumps 31 

Sinking Wells 64 

Southern Pine Stumps 27 

SpHtting Logs 41 

Storage of Explosives 95 

Stump Blasting 25 

Stump Blasting: Advantages of 14 

Cost of 16 

Gauging the Charge 15 

Proper Explosive for 15 

Subsoil Blasting 69 

Swamp Draining 60 

Tamping 103 

Thawing of Dynamite 97 

Thawing Kettles 97 

Transportation of Explosives 97 

Tree Pdling 41 

Tree Planting and Cultivating 79 

Well Sinking 64 

Western Cedar Stumps 31 

Western Fir Stumps 31 

Western Pine Stumps 31 

Wire: Leading and Connecting 110 



IF 



After reading this book you 

want further information, 

write us or our nearest 

Branch Office 

(See list on last page) 




E. I. du Pont de Nemours Powder Co. 

ESTABLISHED 1802 
Wilmington, Del., U. S. A. 



INTRODUCTION 



NOT so very many years ago the farm was about the last place where 
one would expect to find up-to-date mechanical appliances. 
Steam, explosives, electricity — the factors which have made 
the world in general, and America in particular, what it is today — 
were indispensable for the railroad and the steamboat, the factory 
and the mine, but the farmer's work was generally run on a compara- 
tively small scale, and was mostly done by the muscles of men or 
draft animals. Today, however, the farmer as well as the manufac- 
turer, the contractor and the miner, fully appreciate the value of labor- 
saving devices. Every up-to-date farm, large or small, has modern 
machinery that tends to reduce the cost of production or to improve 
farm products. 

Explosives were first used in warfare and hunting, then for 
blasting. Their early use in mining and excavating was very limited, 
but it did not take long to find out that explosives, if used in the 
right way, could do in a moment as much work as a man, or even a 
machine, could do in many days. As soon as this was understood, 
explosives were applied to new kinds of work and special kinds of 
explosives were produced, particularly adapted to these new uses. 

The history of the use of explosives in farming has been much 
the same as in other industries. At first it was supposed that they 
could only be used for splitting stumps, so that they could be dug out 
more easily. Later on, after stump blasting had been carefully studied, 
and more suitable and cheaper explosives manufactured, it was found 
that by far the cheapest and quickest way to get rid of a stump of any 
size, no matter what kind of soil it stood in, was to lift it completely 
out of the ground, and split it up at the same time, with explosives. 

[7] 



INTRODUCTION 

About this time it was discovered that it was cheaper to blast out 
boulders and plant the ground they occupied than to plow around them. 
Then some enterprising farmer who had had trouble with foundations 
settling, decided that it was a good plan to build his house and his 
barns on rock and learned that it did not cost much to do the necessary 
blasting for foundations and cellars. This led to the idea of blasting the 
rock encountered in digging drains, and in using a small quantity of 
explosives to hurry along the work of digging holes for fence posts and 
for poles. The rock met with in sinking wells was soon cut through with 
explosives. Early in the spring when the ice came down the streams, 
and a gorge at the bridge threatened to cause a flood and carry away 
the bridge too, a little dynamite quickly relieved the situation. In 
lumber districts, log jams were started in the same way, and the use 
of a small quantity of explosives saved time and trouble on the roll way. 

Within the last few years dynamite has been used for blasting 
subsoil and ditches, and it is doubtful if its use in any other kind of 
work, represents so great a saving, or has so many advantages. 

A few years ago the plan of breaking up hardpan and other 
impervious subsoils was tried by Samuel J. Crawford, then Governor 
of Kansas, and a number of other influential Kansans who were 
interested in farming. The results of their experiments were so 
successful that hardpan is now being blasted quite generally, and many 
acres of land which were practically worthless before they were blasted, 
are now bearing phenomenal crops. 

The most recently discovered method of saving money by using 
dynamite is in blasting ditches. Dynamite has long been used to 
shatter rock encountered in digging drains and ditches, but ditches 
through earth have never been excavated entirely with explosives 
until recently. 

Many fruit growers know how great a help dynamite is in plant- 
ing fruit trees and in keeping them thrifty. The ground where the 
tree is to be planted can be loosened up, and the hole partly dug, in 
a moment, by exploding a very small charge of dynamite a short 
distance below the surface. 

[91 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

Good roads about the farm are practically indispensable, and they 
cannot be built quickly or cheaply without at least some explosives. 

Explosives are also used to advantage for splitting logs for rails or 
any other purpose, for felling trees, destroying old buildings and for 
almost any kind of work where a strong force quickly applied, is de- 
sirable. Dynamite is simply concentrated power or condensed strength. 
In order to have it work in the correct way, and move in the right 
direction, it must be properly harnessed and the bit kept in its mouth, 
but this is easily done if the directions given in this handbook are 
followed intelligently. 

As time passes, farmers will find other ways of saving money by 
using explosives, for the demand for farm products is increasing so 
rapidly that greater acreage must be put under cultivation, and the 
old acres must increase their yield. In order to do this successfully 
and to meet competition, every device and arrangement that really 
saves labor and makes for economy, either in the present or the future, 
must be adopted. The farmer who fails to realize this, and still be- 
lieves that he can get along in the old way, will soon find himself 
hopelessly defeated. 

It has always been the policy of the Du Pont Company to study 
thoroughly the various kinds of work in which explosives can be used 
to advantage, and then to produce explosives best suited for the work 
to be done. In addition to this the company has adopted every pos- 
sible device which will help it to manufacture explosives at a low cost, 
and at the same time improve their quality. It has a large number of 
chemists constandy engaged in improving its explosives, and in testing 
the daily output of the various works, so as to keep its products up to 
standard. The company also has a force of men experienced in the 
use of explosives, who go about the country studying the work in which 
explosives are employed, and instructing consumers how to use them to 
the best advantage. All of this is expensive, but it enables the Du Pont 
Company to be sure that it is selling the very best explosives 
that can be made, and also to furnish the consumer with the kind of 
explosive which is most suitable for the work to be done. 

E. I. DU Pont de Nemours Powder Co. 

December, 1910 

[10] 



THE FIRST STAGE 



CLEARING THE LAND 



BLASTING OUT STUMPS 
FELLING TREES 
SPLITTING LOGS 
BLASTING BOULDERS 




A FUTURE SUBJECT 



CLEARING THE LAND 



EVER since the first white man started a permanent settlement in 
this country, the transformation of forests into farms has been 
carried on continuously, and at an ever-increasing speed. So 
great is the total of land clearing operations today, and so large is the 
annual expenditure in this work, that it has become a factor of prime 
importance in the national economy, and the necessity for a careful 
study of all of its phases, to the end of improving the various methods 
now in practice, is everywhere recognized. 

If, after the passing of the wood-chopper and the sawmill, the 
land were ready for the plow, there would be no problem to solve; 
but a great area covered with stumps — thirty, fifty, a hundred, two 
hundred to the acre — often with boulders scattered here and there, 
is very far from a crop-bearing proposition. This, however, is what 
very many of our farms are made from, and the question is, how to bring 
about the necessary transformation without spending more than the 
probable returns will warrant. 

If, for example, uncleared land costs twenty-five dollars an acre, 
and after being cleared will only yield a fair return on the outlay of 
fifty dollars an acre, it is evident that it must be cleared for not more 
than twenty-five dollars an acre. The problem seems a simple one, 
but its solution is sometimes difficult — we know what is to be done, 
the question is, how to do it ? 

For generations farmers have chopped, burned and dug away at 
stumps which have slowly yielded to their efforts. Today a quicker 
and more effective way of getting rid of them is imperative. The 
subject has been studied and experimented with for years by the Agri- 
cultural Departments of the National Government and of different 
states, by many large land companies, by railroad corporations and by 

[13] 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

thousands of individuals. Numerous ideas and plans have been sug- 
gested and worked out, but none of them has been successful or 
economical without the use of dynamite. When explosives are properly 
used, stumps and boulders are not only blasted out of the ground but 




A FIVE-FOOT DIAMETER WASHINGTON FIR WINDFALL 
SHOWING THE ENORMOUS SPREAD OF THE ROOTS 



are at the same time broken into pieces which can be easily handled — 
burned, if stumps, or, if boulders, used for building roads, etc. 

When a stump is properly blasted, but little of the soil is thrown out 
with it, and it is not necessary to spend time and money clearing the earth 

[14] 



CLEARING THE LAND 

from its roots, and filling a great hole in the ground, as must be done 
when the stump is taken out with a stump puller. Neither is any 
special fertilization of the spot formerly occupied by the stump, 
necessary to bring it into proper crop-bearing condition, as must be 
done after a stump has been burned out. 

Only a very small outlay is necessary at one time when explosives 
are used, and one man can work with them just as well as a dozen 
or a hundred. When the proper explosive is selected, and when it is 
used in the right way, there is no cheaper method of getting rid of 
stumps or boulders. 

There are many kinds of dynamite, each expressly intended to do 
a particular kind of work; and as the conditions under which stumps 
and boulders are blasted differ widely, it is not possible to recommend 
any one grade for general use. 

On the Pacific Slope, where the stumps are of great size, Hercules 
Stumping L. F. Powder is the favorite, but in other parts of this country, 
where the stumps are smaller, Red Cross Dynamite is used almost 
exclusively. The popularity of these two brands is probably due to the 
fact, that they are the only ones manufactured that are similar in form, 
appearance, and action to the standard dynamites, but which do not 
freeze at temperatures of 45° or 50° F. as the other brands do. Hercules 
Stumping L. F, Powder and Red Cross Dynamite do not freeze until 
water freezes, frequently not even then, and will thaw out in a very 
short time when they are exposed to a temperature that will melt ice. 

It is equally difficult to state accurately, the quantity or strength of 
the explosive necessary to blast out a stump of a given diameter. This 
is because the size of the stump is not the only factor, and perhaps not 
even the most important one to consider, when estimating the charge 
required. Whether the soil in which the stump stands is wet or dry, 
light or heavy, the kind of wood, age of the stump, the nature and posi- 
tion of the roots, etc., are all matters of great importance when deter- 
mining the quantity, strength and location of the charge of explosives. 
Careful records have, however, been kept of the cost of explosives, 
including blasting caps and fuse, or electric fuzes, used in blasting 

[15] 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

stumps in different parts of the country, some of which we give 
below: 

Average Average Cent of 

Diameter Explosives per Stump 

768 Southern Pine Stumps 29" 30c 

78 Oak, Walnut, Gum, etc.. Stumps in Illinois . 30" 53c 
329 White Pine, Oak, Maple, Birch, etc., Stumps 

in Michigan 32" 47c 

37 Apple, Ash, Oak and Chestnut Stumps in 

Pennsylvania 34 W^ 56c 

77 Washington Fir Stumps 50" $1.13 

These figures were taken from records of the Du Pont Powder 
Company. The explosive used in most cases, except for blasting the 
Washington firs, was Red Cross Extra (40%) Dynamite. The fir 









WASHINGTON FIR STUMPS 



[16] 



CLEARING THE LAND 

stumps were blasted with Hercules (20 'v,^) Stumping L. F. Powder 
and Judson Powder R. R. P. (5% strength). These calculations are 
based on retail, not wholesale prices. 

Records kept by A. J. McGuire, Superintendent of the Northeast 
Experimental Farm of the University of Minnesota, show even lower 
costs. 

Some of Mr. McGuire's records are as follows: 

Average Average Cost of 

Diameter Explosives per Slump 

255 Popple 14" 12c 

255 Jack Pine, Norway Pine and White Pine ... 1 4/^" 1 8c 

395 Birch, Ash, Spruce, Pine, etc 20" 1 6c 

Mr. McGuire used 25% to 40% Red Cross Ammonia Dynamite, 
and states that the best and most economical results were had with 
25% and 27% grades. 

The Iowa State College recently blasted eighty-two oak and 
elm stumps and trees averaging 20 inches in diameter, at an average 
cost of about 38 cents each for explosives. 

On a large land clearing operation in Minnesota during the summer 
of 1 909, eight thousand, nine hundred and seventy stumps were blasted 
out. Although a considerable number of these were large pine stumps, 
an average of less than three-quarters of a pound of dynamite per 
stump was used. 

Accurate records of the cost of blasting stumps on a Long Island 
farm, including the wages of the men who did the work, were recently 
kept by representatives of the Long Island Railroad Company. The 
entire cost of blasting out and burning up one hundred stumps was 
only $16.00. 

Although one unaccustomed to using explosives might find the costs 
running higher at the start than some of those given above, it does not 
require an unusual amount of experience to learn approximately the 
minimum charge required to blast stumps. 

When cut-over land, which is covered with stumps and boulders, 
can be cleared, and turned into farms at a profit, it is hard to under- 

[17] 



CLEARING THE LAND 

stand why anyone should let stumps or boulders take up valuable land 
and then plow around them year after year. A lot of time is wasted 
swinging around even a few stumps and boulders when plowing a 
field, to say nothing of the damage to plow, harness and team if a root 
is struck. Besides this, each medium-sized stump, with its spreading 
roots, or even a comparatively small boulder, will take up the space 
of many stalks of corn or of other crops. It has been estimated that a 
single stump of average size occupies as much ground as would support 
six hills of corn. 



The corn from six hills would in a very few years 
pay for enough dynamite to blow out many stumps 
and boulders. 



One suggestion which we would make to those who have land to 
clear is: Always do your stump blasting, if possible, when the ground 
is wet. Almost every kind of ground when it is wet, offers stronger 
resistance to the action of dynamite than it does when dry. Therefore, 
when the ground is wet a stump or boulder can be blasted out with 
less dynamite than when the same ground is dry. 

One of the most objectionable methods of trying to get rid of 
stumps is burning them out. When stumps have been blasted out and 
split up with dynamite, it is an easy matter to heap up the pieces and 
burn them, but to burn a standing stump is a different proposition. 
Those who have tried it can testify to the time spent in keeping the fire 
going, and that it is practically impossible in this way to get rid of 
much of the stump below the surface of the ground. Probably the 
worst feature of burning out stumps is the damage done to the ground 
by the lire, which burns out the humus to such an extent, that it 
requires much cultivation to bring the ground where the stump was 
burned into good condition. The following from the Tacoma, Wash., 
"Ledger" of October 20, 1909, explains very clearly the damage 
done to new land by burning out stumps : 

[19] 



CLEARING THE LAND 

"Last summer Prof. W. J. McGee of the Department of 
Agriculture, in co-operation with Prof. Henry Landes, 'Dr. 
Benson and Dr. Fry of the State University, studied the best 
methods of utiHzing cut-over or logged-off lands. Prof. Mc- 
Gee gives some of the findings, and they argue strongly 
against burning cut-over lands. Fire destroys the humus in 
the soil, and when the humus is gone, the fertility is greatly 
lessened. The danger of burning logged-off lands is that the 
fire will burn the humus for some distance below the surface. 
When the humus is burned out, it takes time to build up a fertile 
soil again. The fire destroys the work it took nature many 
years to do." 

The implements needed in stump blasting are few and inexpensive, 
and most of them are always to be found on the farm. 

Big stumps like those found along the Pacific Coast usually 
require a comparatively bulky charge of lovV^-grade explosives, which 
means that a large hole must be dug. In case the stump is very large 
it is best to dig a trench under the stump, using a litde dynamite to 
assist in the digging. In this work a pick or mattock and a long- 
handle shovel are necessary. As a matter of fact these two tools, 
and an axe, are usually required, no matter how the hole for the 
explosive is made. 

For medium-size and smaller stumps, a two-inch wood auger to drill 
under the stump (and into the tap root if there is one), is necessary, 
and a crowbar with one pointed end and one chisel end is very useful. 
One of the most important implements used in stump blasting, is the 
tamping stick. This must have no metal about it. The tamping sticks 
used on the Pacific Coast are six to eight feet long and two to three 
inches in diameter. For tamping the holes under other stumps a stick 
five or six feet long and one and a half inches in diameter is large enough. 

For blasting large boulders it may be necessary to use a hammer 
and hand drill, unless they are to be broken by mudcapping or by 
placing the explosive underneath them. The hole under the boulder 
can be made with a crowbar. If the boulder is drilled, a small tamping 
stick, from one-half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter should be 

[21] 



CLEARING THE LAND 

used. If the charge is put under the boulder, the tamping stick should 
be one and a half inches in diameter and live or six feet long. Hard- 
wood tamping sticks are of course best, because they last longest. 




u:\L Id^l.L uUT OF THE WAY 



>!«» 




dV 



■^ 



f 



[23] 



BLASTING STUMPS 




/^ 



Waj^ 



IT IS usually necessary in blasting stumps to place the charge as 
close as possible to the toughest part of the stump, so that the part 
most difficult to break will be hit first and hardest. Generally 
this spot will be direcdy under the middle of the stump, and it is some- 
times necessary to bore into the tap root. There are cases where a 
very big stump is rotten at the middle, but has several large, branching 
roots. In such in- 
stances better results 
will be had, if the 
charge is mcreased a 
little and located 
deeper in the ground, 
or if under each of the 
large roots a smaller 
charge is placed, and 
all of them fired simul- 
taneously with a blast- 
ing machine. 

In order to keep the explosive from splitting the stump, and 
wasting a part of the force which should be expended in lifting it 

out, it is the 
practice of 
some blasters 
to wind a 
stout chain 
around the 
stump several 
times. It is a 
good idea to 
use a chain 
with all hol- 

STUMP BOUND WITH CHAIN low StumpS. 







[25] 




:.!««t:i(R£"-s.-SS! 



CLEARING THE LAND 

Some large stumps can be effectively removed by exploding 
simultaneously, charges loaded in holes bored from different sides, so 
that they w^ill intersect under the center of the stump. The cartridge 
containing the detonator (blasting cap or electric fuze) should be 
loaded first, so that it will be at the intersection of the holes; then 
the different holes should be loaded, making sure that the first car- 
tridge in each hole touches the primer (the cartridge containing the 
detonator). When the primer is exploded, it will explode the 
entire charge. 

If the above directions are closely adhered to, the general run of 
stumps can be blown out satisfactorily and cheaply. The stumps of 
some kinds of trees, however, require special treatment to get the best 
results, and detailed instructions concerning them are given in the 
following pages. 

Southern Pine Stumps 

The use of explosives in blasting southern pine stumps, especially in 
very sandy soils, has not been generally recommended in the past, 
because the cost has seemed high in comparison with the value of 
the land. The increased value of land and the improvements in ex- 
plosives have, however, now made it entirely feasible to remove 
these stumps with dynamite. This work can be done with less dyna- 
mite, if a good team of horses with a bull chain is used to pull out 
pieces and drag them from the field. 

Pine stumps should be considered in two classes — those with tap 
roots and those without. The first part of a pine stump to rot is the 
tap root, and a field that looks very discouraging will often be found 
easy to clear. 

In blasting southern pine stumps the important feature is to place 
the explosive close to the point of greatest resistance, which is in the 
tap root direcdy under the center of the stump. This tap root can 
usually be located by digging underneath the smooth side of the stump. 
When the tap root is located, dig an opening, one to two feet deep, 
down by the side of the tap root; then bore an auger hole two inches 

[27] 




BLASTING STUMPS IN VIRGINIA 



CLEARING THE LAND 

in diameter into the tap root on an angle of from 35° to 50°. The 
auger hole should be bored not less than three-quarters of the way 
through the tap root; care being taken not to drill entirely through, 
for by so doing a great deal of the explosive force would be wasted 
in the back of the hole, which would then be in the ground. Load with 
from one to three 1 M x 8-inch cartridges (depending on the size and 
age of the stump), of Red Cross Extra (40%) Dynamite, and tamp 
firmly to the surface with damp clay. The blast will cut off the tap root 
twenty to thirty-six inches below the surface and turn out the stump 
in pieces. These stumps can also be blown out without taking the 
time to bore into the tap root, if a little larger charge of dynamite be 
placed firmly against the tap root a foot or two below the surface and 
closely confined with tamping. A convenient implement for making 
the hole in the ground when blasting in this way is a three-inch post- 
hole auger. 

When the tap root is to be bored into, it is advisable to use a two- 
inch wood auger, as the dynamite can then be more closely compressed 
under the center of the tree or stump where the resistance is greatest. 
If clay cannot be found to tamp the charge under the first stump 
blasted, use sand. After one stump is blasted, you can usually find 
good tamping material at the bottom of its roots. 

Careful record was recently kept by one of our representatives, in 
order to arrive definitely at the exact cost of explosives necessary to 
properly blast out these southern pine stumps. Three hundred and 
twenty-five stumps were blasted which averaged in diameter 28^ 
inches, and the cost of explosives including dynamite, fuse and blasting 
caps, or electric fuzes, averaged a little more than 1 8 cents per stump. 

Southern pine stumps without tap roots are sometimes found in 
land having a sandy top soil with a hard subsoil. In this case 
Red Cross S. P. 1 (30%) Dynamite or Judson Powder F. F. F. (20%) 
may give the best results. The charge should be placed under the 
middle of, and as close to the stump as possible. 

[29] 



Washington Fir Seven Feet in Diameter 

Blown out with 25 pounds of Hercules Stumping L. F. Powder 







i 




1 


^^^Bf^^^^^ 




1 


^H^^^H 


^1 


Bl 


^^21- ~"^ XT^. ■■ 




^^^gji^ 


3 



BEFORE THE BLAST 




AFTER THE ELAbT 



CLEARING THE LAND 

Second-Growth Stumps 

There is often directly under a second-growth stump, the decayed 
remains of the original stump; this is soft, and the force of the explosive 
when placed on it, seems to merely scatter this dead wood and has 
no marked effect upon the stump. To overcome this difficulty, it is a 
good plan to dig under the stump and place a good-sized flat stone 
between the roots, leaving only room on top of the stone for the dynamite. 
Damp clay should then be firmly packed around the dynamite. This 
gives the explosive sufficient resistance to lift out the stump. Red 
Cross S. P. I (30%) or Red Cross Extra (40%) Dynamite should be 
used. It should be remembered that best results will be had from the 
explosives recommended for blasting the above stumps, if they are 
exploded with No. 6 (red label) or stronger detonators. 




SHOWING IIUW THICK THEY GROW 



Western Fir, Pine and Cedar Stumps 

In the states of Washington, Oregon and California, where the 
rainfall is large and the ground in the forests is always damp, many 
of the trees grow to great size — some being eight or ten feet in diameter. 
The roots of these trees usually spread out near the surface and do 
not grow deep into the ground, as might be expected, tap roots being 
extremely rare. The object when blasting the stumps of these trees 

[31] 




H -w Jh 






OS .£ c 



o m 3 



CLEARING THE LAND 

is not to split them, but to bring them out entire at one blast, with all 
of the roots possible, because if the charge of explosives is so gauged 
and located as to split the stump, it generally fails to bring out all of 
the pieces. As the principal object is to get out as much of the stump 
as possible at a minimum cost, it is better to blast it out first and then 
it can be easily split afterwards, by means of a small quantity of dynamite 
exploded in auger holes. 

The common rule in blasting these stumps is to use one and one- 
half pounds of Hercules Stumping L. F. Powder per foot of diameter, 
with stumps up to four feet, when the bottom is clay. For larger 
sizes it is advisable to use two to two and one-half pounds of this 




OREGON PINE STUMP— PREPARING FOR THE BLAST 



powder for each foot in diameter. For stumps in gravelly or loose 
ground one pound more should be used for each foot in diameter. 

The charge of explosives is best placed when there is sixteen to 
twenty-four inches of earth between the charge and the bottom of the 
stump. This results in the force of the explosion radiating to all sides, 
lifting the stump clear of the ground, and bringing with it the greatest 
length of roots. If the charge is placed too close to the stump, the 
effect is to split it, leaving the roots to be dug out at extra labor and 
expense. It is advisable with large stumps to chamber, or expand, 

[33] 



CLEARING THE LAND 

the bottom of the hole, so that the entire charge can be concentrated 
under the center of the stump. To do this a hole is bored beneath 
the stump by means of a dirt auger or small post-hole auger. In this 
hole a small charge is usually exploded with fuse and blasting cap 
and no tamping whatever is used. The quantity of explosives to be 
used in chambering, depends of course on the size of the charge neces- 
sary to blast out the stump. Usually from half a cartridge to two 
cartridges of Hercules Stumping L. F. Powder will be sufficient. After 
the hole is chambered the blasting charge should be loaded in the usual 
way and thoroughly tamped. 

Redwood and *Bigtree Stumps 

The best explosive for these stumps is Judson Powder R. R. P. 
It is a comparatively slow-acting explosive, and has more of a lifting 
and heaving, than a shattering effect. It is granular, and is packed 
in twelve and one-half pound paper bags which are enclosed in wooden 
cases similar to those in which regular dynamite is packed. 

The way to approximately estimate the quantity of Judson Pow- 
der R. R. P. necessary to blast out stumps larger than eight feet in 
diameter, is to square the largest diameter in feet, the result being 
approximately the number of pounds required. For example, if a 
stump is eight feet in diameter the largest way, the charge of Judson 
Powder R. R. P. should be about sixty-four pounds. Stumps less 
than eight feet in diameter require a little greater charge for their 
size than do the larger stumps, and the rule with them is to use as 
many pounds of Judson Powder R. R, P. as eight times the largest 
diameter in feet. On this basis a stump six feet in diameter would need 
about forty-eight pounds of powder. However the successful blasting of 
these large stumps depends largely on the judgment of the blaster, and 
these rules can only be considered as a general guide. This can easily 
be understood when it is remembered that, owing to difference in soil or 
some peculiarity in the growth of the tree, it sometimes requires the 

* " Bigtree" is the name given to the " Sequoia Washingtoniana," one of the gigantic trees of the Pacific Northwest. 

[35] 




t3 

m 

Q 

O H 

O - 

W w 

< Bi 

I— I u 

;z *- 



^ O 






^6 



CLEARING THE LAND 

same quantity of explosives to properly bring out a stump six feet in 
diameter as it does one eight feet in diameter. 

In blasting these stumps a trench is dug large enough to permit 
placing the entire charge of explosives direcdy underneath the center 
of the stump. A little dynamite blasted in holes punched w^ith a 
crowbar will prove of great assistance in digging this trench. 

If the ground is wet, the charge should be placed in a waterproof 
bag, as Judson Powder R. R. P. is not waterproof and is quickly 
damaged by contact with water. 

Judson Powder R. R. P. can be properly exploded only with a 
primer of 40*^ r (or stronger) dynamite. The sizes of the primers required 
for different charges of Judson Powder R. R. P. are as follows: 

Charge of Judson Powder Primer of Dynamite 

Pounds Number of I ' 4 x 8-lnch Cartridges 

10 1 

20 2 

50 . 4 

300 25 



A detonator equivalent to, or stronger than a (Q]J_PDNT) No. 6 
(red label) Blasting Cap, or Victor No. 6 (red label) Electric Fuze, 
should always be used in one of the priming cartridges. The proper 
way to make the primer is showTi on pages 100 and 102. If several 
cartridges are used as a primer, they should be tied in a compact 
bundle with the primed cartridge in the center. If blasting cap and 
fuse are used in the priming cartridge, care should be taken in placing 
the primer to prevent any contact between the fuse and the Judson 
Powder R. R. P. as the latter is very inflammable. The charge should 
be firmly tamped. 

Avoid being on the same side of the stump as the trench when 
the blast is fired, as fragments, etc., are thrown with more violence 
and to greater distances on that side. 

Hercules Stumping L. F. Powder is also used in blasting Cali- 
fomia redwood stumps. The illustration on page 32 shows two large 
redwood stumps which had practically one root below the surface, 

[37] 



CLEARING THE LAND 

although this root had separated above ground into two trees. The 
circumference of the stump just above the surface of the ground w^as 
seventy-five feet. This stump was completely removed, as shown on 
pages 32, 34 and 36, with ninety-three pounds of Hercules Stump- 
ing L. F. Powder. Six trenches were dug under the stump at different 
points, five of these being loaded each with twenty-five 1 K x 8-inch 
cartridges of this explosive, and the sixth with thirty I ,^ 2 x 8-inch car- 
tridges. These charges were then connected up electrically, and the 
trenches were thoroughly and compacdy tamped above the explosives 
to the surface of the ground. The six charges were then fired simul- 
taneously with a blasting machine. The illustration on page 32 shows 
the blasting machine used and the cartridges of Hercules Stumping 
L. F. Powder on the ground preparatory to charging the trenches. 

This stump had stood from twenty-five to thirty years, but was 
perfectly solid. It made about thirty-five cords of wood after it was 
blasted. 

Cypress Stumps 

Cypress stumps are found, as a rule, in swamps where the soil is 
a soggy muck often covered with water. Through the land-reclaiming 
operations in the Southern States many of these swamps have been 
drained, leaving land of wonderful fertility. The cypress stumps have 
no tap root, but have large "spreaders" reaching out in all directions to 
such an extent that they are interwoven with those of neighboring stumps, 
forming a tangle of roots that never rot. The strongest and quickest 
dynamite in the hands of careful blasters gives the best results in this 
work. The common practice is to place 1 ,^4 x 8-inch cartridges under 
each of the principal spreaders, and lire all simultaneously by means of a 
blasting machine. The cypress wood, being extremely soft, splits 
easily, and the quick explosive shatters the stump and releases it from 
the entangling roots. 

In order to obtain the best results in blasting cypress stumps the 
electric system of blasting should be employed. The Du Pont 
Company recommends the use of 60 per cent. Semi-Gelatin, de- 
tonated with a No. 6 (red label) Electric Fuze for the work. 

When cypress stumps are not blasted until after the swamps 
have been drained off, Red Cross Extra (40 9v) Dynamite should 
be used. 

[39] 



CLEARING THE LAND 
FELLING TREES 

Occasionally when clearing land of growing timber, it is of ad- 
vantage to blast out the entire tree and saw off the root afterwards. 
The process here is exactly the same as in stump blasting, but little 
if any more dynamite being required to bring out the tree, roots and 
all, than to blast the stump after the tree has been cut. The blast 
lifts the tree straight up a foot or two; then it falls, generally with 
the wind. 

SPLITTING STUMPS AND LOGS 

When stumps, particularly large ones, are blasted out whole or 
nearly so, it is usually necessary to split them up so that they can be 
conveniently handled or burned. This can be readily accomplished 
with dynamite; only a small quantity of explosives being required, if 
the charge is properly tamped in auger holes bored part way 
through the stump. 

In the South the pine stumps are very large producers of turpen- 
tine and by-products. Before the wood in the stump can be distilled, 
it must be broken into pieces small enough to suit the retort. Nothing 
is so effective as dynamite for breaking up a stump for this purpose. 
Charges of a few inches of Red Cross Dynamite exploded simul- 
taneously in several auger holes bored in the stump, will shatter it up 
into exactly the size required. 

When logs are split up to be burned quickly, the same method is 
used as when splitting stumps; but if they are to be split for fence rails, 
cord-wood, charcoal, or other purposes where comparatively even and 
regular sections are required, blasting powder or Judson Powder R. R. P. 
should be used. These explosives are so much slower in action than 
dynamite that a series of properly gauged and properly placed charges 
will split a log along the grain, just as evenly as if a number of wedges 
were used. This method of splitting logs is so much quicker, cheaper 
and easier than any other, that those who have once become 
proficient at it, never give it up. Auger holes are bored along the line 
of the grain, about one-quarter to one-half of the way through the log, 
the depth of the holes and the distance between them depending on 
the kind of wood, the grain, and the diameter of the log. A few 

[41] 



CLEARING THE LAND 

ounces of FF blasting powder is put into the bottom of each hole, care 
being first taken to see that the hole is dry, then wooden plugs are 
driven firmly into the tops of the holes to tamp or confine the charge. 
In some kinds of wood it is best to leave a considerable air space be- 
tween the bottom of the plug and the powder. The plugs must have 
a groove in the side large enough to admit the electric squib wires or 
fuse. As blasting powder is exploded by a spark or flame it is not 
necessary to use a detonator (blasting cap or electric fuze) when blasting 
with it. If electric squibs and a blasting machine are used for explod- 
ing the charges, they can all be fired simultaneously. This usually is 
the best and cheapest way, as a little less powder is required than 
when the charges are exploded separately with fuse. Electric squibs 
are similar in appearance to electric fuzes, except that they have a 
paper capsule instead of a copper cap. They do not explode when 
the electric current passes through them, but ignite the blasting powder 
by a flash. When using electric squibs, it is only necessary to have 
the groove or channel in the sides of the wooden plugs large enough 
for the two small wires to run through it, if the cap of the electric squib 
is put in place before the plug is driven in. When driving the plug 
care must be taken that the wires are kept free, and that the insulation 
on them is not abraded. If it is not convenient to provide wooden 
plugs in this work, damp clay tamping may be used on top of a wad 
of newspaper. A log two feet in diameter, and four or five feet long, 
can usually be split in two with one two-ounce charge of FF blasting 
powder fired as described above. Longer logs require two or more 
holes, and logs of greater diameter require heavier charges. The 
holes should be from one and one-eighth to two inches in diameter. 
Logs up to six feet in length can be split at once into a number of 
pieces, by exploding a single charge of Judson Powder R. R. P. in 
a hole bored about twelve or fourteen inches straight into the center 
of one end. Two ounces of Judson Powder R. R. P. is about the 
right charge for a log two feet in diameter, but about an ounce and a 
half of 40'; ( dynamite and a No. 6 detonator are required to explode 
the Judson Powder R. R. P. 

[43] 



BOULDER BLASTING 




THE BOULDER— BEFORE THE BLAST 



THERE are three ways in which boulders can be blasted. 
These are known as "Mudcapping," "Snakeholing" and 
"Blockholing." "Mudcapping" and "Snakeholing" are the 
easier and quicker methods, but require more dynamite. It is almost 
impossible to shatter large round boulders of hard rock by either of 
these methods, without using an excessive quantity of explosives, which 
makes blockholing necessary with boulders of this kind. 

Mudcapping ("Doby Shooting" or "Blistering") 

Boulders may frequently be broken by exploding a small charge 
of dynamite on their surface. The charge should be placed on the 
spot which would be struck with a sledge if the boulder was to be 
broken in that way. The dynamite should be packed in a solid mass 
by slitting the paper cartridge shells, but should not be spread over 
the surface of the boulder any more than absolutely necessary. A 
blasting cap crimped on to fuse should be placed in the middle of the 
charge, and the whole covered with six inches of damp clay or sand. 
This material should be pressed firmly over the mass of dynamite, 

[45] 




BLASTING A BOULDER 



CLEARING THE LAND 

care being taken not to cover the end of the fuse. It is advisable if 
the boulder is deeply imbedded in the ground, to dig aw^ay or loosen 
some of the earth surrounding it before blasting. 

If the boulder is cracked or seamy, the best results may be secured 
by placing the charge in some depression and covering it with a quan- 
tity of clay or sand. This will furnish more resistance and make 
available a greater force from the explosive. 

The quantity and grade of explosives required naturally depend 
on the size and shape of the boulder. The "grain" and kind of rock 
are also important points. Red Cross 40' < Dynamite is the grade 
recommended, and the quantity required will vary from one to ten 
pounds, the latter quantity being necessary only when the boulder 
is a very large one. The dynamite should be exploded with a No. 6 
(red label) detonator. 

Snakeholing. — Proceed as in stump blasting, taking care that 
the hole in the ground be made under a flat or hollow side of the 
boulder and not under a bulging side. Make a hole with a crowbar 
or a dirt auger, close up under the center of the boulder and load the 
dynamite into the hole in the same manner as you would for stump 
blasting. Care should also be taken when the charge is placed, to 
leave no means by which the force of the dynamite may escape. If 
it has not been thoroughly tamped, or if it is too near the surface of 
the ground, and not in the proper position beneath the boulder, the 
dynamite may blow the dirt out and leave the boulder untouched. 

Red Cross Dynamite of 30 'Tc to 40 'Tt strength should be used 
when breaking up boulders in this way. Only from one-half to two- 
thirds the quantity of dynamite, that would be required to mudcap 
the same boulder, is needed provided the boulder has a hollow or 
concave side underneath. The results are better in damp, heavy soil 
than in light or sandy soil. 

Blockhollng. — This is the most economical method of using 
dynamite to break up boulders, and although it takes some time and 
labor to drill the one or more necessary holes in the boulder, it will 
often be found the most satisfactory in the long run. The holes in 

[47] 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

large boulders should be an inch or more in diameter, while three- 
quarters or seven-eighths of an inch will answer for the smaller ones. 
To properly break up a boulder weighing about ten tons, a hole should 
be drilled in it from ten to twenty inches deep, as the shape and grain 
of the rock may demand, and large enough in diameter to hold a pound 
or more of dynamite with the necessary tamping. Smaller boulders 
require holes from four to six inches in depth, which, if necessary, can 
be filled full of dynamite, and no tamping used. 

Red Cross S. P. I (30V() Dynamite will usually give best results 
in blockholing, unless the boulders are very large and hard, when 
Red Cross Extra (40 9() should be used. 




THE BOULDER— AFTER THE BLAST 



[48 



THE SECOND STAGE 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 



DIGGING DITCHES 

DRAINING SWAMPS 

GRADING ROADS 

EXCAVATING FOR BUILDING 
FOUNDATIONS AND CELLARS 

SINKING WELLS 

DIGGING HOLES FOR FENCE- 
POSTS 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 



WHEN the land has been cleared the work of getting the 
farm into shape begins. Ditches must be dug to properly 
drain the fields — particularly the swampy ones, where often 
the best soil is found. Roads must be constructed, wells sunk, barns, 
houses and other buildings erected, fences built, and so on. Dynamite 
is necessary in every one of these operations, if the work is to be done 
expeditiously and economically. The information to be found in the 
succeeding pages, as well as that already given, has been secured 
entirely from farmers and others who have used explosives for the 
various purposes described. Most of this information has also been 
confirmed by tests and experiments conducted by one or more of the 
numerous blasters in the service of the Du Pont Company. 

DITCHING 

Ditches, long or short, deep or shallow, are necessary on every 
farm, and should always be dug with explosives whether they go 
through rock, shale or only earth. The ditching which pays best is 
that which drains swampy land. There are about seventy million 
acres of this land in the United States, much of which would bear 
magnificent crops, if drained. The cost of draining by the usual 
method of digging ditches by hand or machine, has been almost pro- 
hibitive, with the result that this land is still lying idle. Now that it 
has been found that dynamite will dig ditches through any swamp 
where a man can penetrate, no matter how thick the vegetation covering 
it may be, there is no reason why the large majority of this seventy 
million acres of swamp land should not be cultivated. 

[51] 



G ETTI NG THE FARM IN SHAPE 

Dynamite is just as effective for digging ditcfies and cliannels in 
wet, swampy ground, even tliough it be covered by several inches or 
a foot of water, as it is in dry ground. A channel or ditch dug with 
dynamite, and particulady one cut through dry or sandy ground, is 
not so even and regular at first as one dug by hand or machine, but 
will square up very soon after water fills it and, as the banks have a 
good slope, there is litde caving afterward. 

When a ditch is blasted there is no ouday for expensive equip- 
ment, because the only machinery necessary is an iron bar, pointed 
at one end. In hard, dry ground, a sledge or maul is needed to drive 
the bar down to the necessary depth. There is no delay and expense 
getting machinery into place through swamps and thickets. Not even 
a team is needed when ditches are dug with dynamite, for one or two 
men can easily carry sufficient dynamite to dig a ditch four or live 
hundred feet long, four or five feet wide, and three or four feet deep. 

When ditches are dug with dynamite the material taken from the 
ditch is practically all thrown out by the blast, and litde or no shovel- 
ing is necessary. This material is not heaped up along the sides of 
the ditch, where it would occupy land that should be raising crops, 
and would prevent free drainage into the ditch, but is spread evenly 
over the ground for a considerable distance on each side of the ditch. 

Ditches can be dug with dynamite at any time on a couple of 
hours' notice, as dealers who handle explosives can be found in almost 
every locality. In wet weather, especially after heavy rain falls, when 
it may be necessary to cut ditches and channels in a hurry, this method 
is invaluable. 

It is just as easy to dig a curved ditch with dynamite as it is to 
dig a straight one, because the center of the ditch follows the line of 
holes in which the dynamite is loaded. 

How It Is Done 

Dynamite digs the cleanest and most regular ditches in wet clay 
or gumbo. In this kind of ground it is not necessary to put the holes so 
close together, or to use quite so much dynamite as when the clay is 
only damp. In dry clay, sand marl, or other loose ground, the weaker 
and consequently less expensive grades of dynamite, give best results. 

[53] 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

If the soil is very light, it may occasionally be necessary to "trim 
up" the ditch a little by hand after the blast, but even then it is at 
least twenty-five per cent, cheaper to dig the ditch w^ith dynamite 
than by machine, and it is also many times quicker. 

When ditches are dug in wet clay it is best to explode the dyna- 
mite with blasting cap and waterproof fuse. If the holes are spaced 
the proper distance, only the hole in the middle of the row requires a 
blasting cap, as the explosion of the dynamite in this hole explodes 
that in the next holes on either side, and so on almost instantaneously 
from hole to hole, to the two opposite ends of the row. This plan 
of exploding the dynamite in one hole by that in the next hole, in- 
stead of putting a detonator in each hole, works best in wet ground, 
and when the ground and water are not cold. The temperature of 
the air, water and ground is an important point. If it is below 50° F., 
the dynamite may become so insensitive that the charge in one hole 
will not explode the next one. It is, therefore, recommended that 
whenever possible, this work be done when the ground is wet and 
the weather warm. 

When all conditions are favorable the holes can be spaced two 
feet apart, put down three feet and loaded with one cartridge, 1 3<^ x 8 
inches of No. 2-SS (50^) or No. 1 (60%) Hercules Dynamite or of 
B (50%) or B+ (60%) Atlas Dynamite, for a ditch four feet deep 
and six feet wide at the top. Three men can dig a thousand feet 
of this ditch in three days, with two hundred and fifty pounds of 
dynamite, and at about one-third of the cost of any other method. 
Fifty, sixty, or even a greater number of holes, can be blasted 
simultaneously with a blasting cap in the middle hole only. Some- 
times as much as a quarter of a mile of ditch is blasted in this way 
at once, but unless a number of men are loading the holes it is not 
advisable to blast so much at one time, because the dynamite in the 
holes first loaded will be under water so long, before the last holes 
are loaded, that it may deteriorate. The middle hole should be 
loaded heavier than the others — say with three cartridges instead of 
one cartridge, one of them being the "primer"; that is, the cartridge 

[55] 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

in which the blasting cap crimped to the fuse has been placed. It is 
also a good plan to load the next holes on either side of the middle one 
with three cartridges instead of one. When water covers the holes, or 
almost fills them, it acts as a tamping, and no other tamping is 
necessary. The middle hole should be loaded last, so as not to keep 
the blasting cap and fuse under water longer than absolutely necessary. 
The blasting cap should be carefully crimped to the fuse 
with a cap crimper, and not with a knife or the teeth. After the 
blasting cap has been crimped to the fuse, thick grease or tallow (not oil) 
should be spread over the fuse where it enters the blasting cap. You 
cannot be sure that everything will work satisfactorily, unless you use 
a high grade of waterproof fuse and a (§ JPDN T) No. 6 (red label), or 
stronger, blasting cap. Blasting caps are weakened by dampness, so it 
is always better to use a grade stronger than one which would only 
just explode the dynamite. 

Always cut the end of the fuse squarely across, and always put 
the fresh cut end in the blasting cap. 

The iron or steel bars, for punching the holes in the ground 
should be a little larger in diameter than the dynamite cartridges, 
sharpened to a blunt point on one end and at least two feet longer 
than the depth of the ditch. For making holes in dry ground, where 
the bar is driven down with sledges or mauls, it is a good plan to have 
it only long enough to extend about four inches above the surface 
when the hole is deep enough. This short bar should have a ring or 
collar welded on close to the top, so that it can be easily loosened 
with a crowbar if it becomes fast. The bars should have a blunt 
point and not a long, tapering one, because the dynamite cartridge 
cannot get to the bottom of a hole made by the latter. 



BAR FOR PUNCHING THE HOLES 

The labor of punching the holes may be reduced by spacing 
them farther apart, but when this is done it is necessary to increase 
each charge of dynamite. If under the conditions described above 

[56] 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

the holes were spaced three feet instead of two feet apart, the charge of 
dynamite in each one should be increased to one and a half 1 34 x 8- 
inch cartridges. 

Ditches up to sixteen feet wide can be dug with dynamite, but 
for this width three rows of holes placed alternately as shown below, 
are necessary. 



o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 




o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 



The rows should be about the same distance apart as the holes 
are in the row. 

When deeper ditches are wanted, the holes must be put down 
deeper, and larger charges of explosives be used. 

One of the Missouri customers of the Du Pont Company recently 
stated, that a ditch which he had just dug through swampy land with 
dynamite, for $100.00, would have cost $400.00 or $500.00 if it 
had been dug in any other way. 

When the clay or gumbo is only moderately wet or damp, it is 
necessary to locate the holes closer together, if a blasting cap is used in 
only one of them, as the shock from exploding dynamite will not carry 
as far through the dryer ground, as it will through wet ground or water; 
and it will not carry as far through light or loose earth, as through 
that which is close and heavy. The distance between the holes in 
clay, which is only damp, should not be greater than a foot and a half; 
and in wet sand, from a foot to a foot and a half. 

When the ditch is to be dug through dry ground, it is necessary 
to have a detonator (blasting cap and fuse or electric fuze), in each 
hole, and to tamp with damp earth above the explosives to the top 
of the hole. The best plan is to fire a number of holes at one time by 
electricity, so that each charge can help the other. 

Although it takes a litde longer to dig ditches with dynamite in 
dry ground than it does in wet ground, because each hole must be 

[57] 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 



primed, it is but little, if any, more expensive as the holes can be spaced 
from two and a half to three feet apart, and a lower grade of dynamite 
can be used. The proper explosive for blasting dry ground in this 
way is Red Cross Dynamite of 25% to 40% strength, about two 
1 \i X 8-inch cartridges of which should be used in each hole. 

In blasting ditches, as in all other blasting, the grade and quantity 
of explosives to use, and the spacing and depth of bore holes, are 
governed by the kind of ground in which the work is to be done, 
whether it is wet or dry, and by the size of the ditch to be dug. 

Railroad builders in order to save handling when grading, often 
load the bore holes in cuts through shale, or even through rock, so 
that the material blasted will be thrown as far out of the way as possible, 
or "wasted," as they call it. This is the principle applied when dig- 
ging ditches, all of the earth being thrown out and away from the 
ditch, so that little shoveling is necessary. 

There is a great deal of difference between the way an explosive 
acts in close, wet ground, which offers considerable resistance, and 
the way it acts in open dry ground, offering very little resistance. Con- 
sequently it is necessary, in order to get the best work out of explosives, 
that is, to make them do the most work possible for the money they 
cost, to use one kind in close, wet ground, and another kind in open, 
dry ground. It is also cheapest to space the holes and to fire the 
explosives differently according to the kind of ground. 

As ground in which ditches are to be dug is not always either 
wet clay or dry loam, but often ranges between the two, it may be 
necessary to modify the two methods described above in the spacing 
of bore holes and size of charges. 

When shale or rock is encountered in digging ditches, holes must 
be drilled and fired as in any other kind of rock blasting. The depth 
and spacing of these holes, and the kind and quantity of explosives 
which will give best results, depends altogether on the nature of 
the rock. 

[59] 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 
DRAINING SWAMPS 

In comparatively flat, open country underlaid by a clay subsoil, 
swamps, often several acres in extent, occupy the low^er areas. These 
swamps are natural reservoirs, generally formed by drainage filling up 
the depressions until the water is high enough to flow out over the 
lowest barrier. They are not fed by springs but by the natural drain- 
age. To drain these swamps by means of ditches would sometimes 
require several miles of ditching, which in many cases is impracticable. 
Yet such swamps often cover the very best kind of crop-bearing ground, 
and accordingly any practical method by which they can be disposed 
of, is a matter of great interest to many farmers. That many of them 
can be completely drained without ditching, and at very little expense, 
has been clearly demonstrated. This is done by boring holes down 
through the impervious ground in the bottom of the swamps, to the 
sand, gravel or other open material below, and exploding compara- 
tively heavy charges of Red Cross Semi-Gelatin No. 2 (40%) in the 
holes. The number of holes required depends on the size of the 
swamps and the thickness of the hardpan. Sometimes a compara- 
tively large swamp can be permanently dried up by means of three or 
four well-blasted holes in the lowest part of the bottom. Again a 
row of holes, spaced thirty or forty feet apart, across the lowest part of 
the swamp may be necessary. For lasting results, the holes must some- 
times be drilled as deep as thirty feet, although ten-foot holes are often 
sufficient. A two-inch wood or dirt auger is generally used. This auger 
is welded to a piece of gas-pipe six or eight feet long. The top of 
this is threaded and a tee attached so that a wooden or smaller pipe- 
handle can be used to turn the auger. When the hole is bored down 
until the handle of the auger approaches the surface of the water, or as 
low as it can be conveniently operated from the raft or boat, the tee 
is unscrewed, another section of pipe attached, and the tee is screwed 
on to the top of this section. This process is repeated until the hole 
has reached the required depth. Then the dynamite is loaded. To 
do this properly a section of two-inch gas-pipe should be pushed into 
the hole for six or eight inches. This pipe should be long enough to 

[60] 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 

extend above the surface of the water. Through this the 1 3<4 x 8-inch 
cartridges of Red Cross Semi-Gelatin should be pushed, one or two 
at a time, with a wooden stick, to the bottom of the hole, where they 
will remain in position when the stick is withdrawn if given a good 
firm push. The last cartridge should be primed with a Victor No. 6 
(red label) Waterproof Electric Fuze, for good results cannot be ex- 
pected if fuse and blasting caps are used in this work. The electric 
fuze must have wires long enough to reach well above the surface of 
the water. No tamping is required, as the water above the explosive 
serves the purpose. After the primer cartridge is in position, draw 
out the gas-pipe carefully, so as not to pull the electric fuze out of the 
cartridge. The electric fuze wires should then be connected to 
well-insulated leading wire (all connections being carefully water- 
proofed), and the leading wire should be carefully paid out, 
while the raft or boat is moved fifty or sixty yards away. The other 
ends of the leading wire should then be attached to the blasting ma- 
chine, the operation of which will explode the charge in the bottom 
of the hole. The approximate charge for a hole ten feet deep is seven 
cartridges, for a hole fifteen feet deep, twelve cartridges, and for a 
hole thirty feet deep, twenty-five cartridges, 1 M x 8-inches, of Red Cross 
Semi-Gelatin No. 2 (40%). 

A few years ago a Kansas farmer, who had owned a farm for 
twelve years with a forty-acre swamp on it, blasted a row of holes 
spaced about thirty-five feet apart, across the lowest part where the 
water was three feet deep. The swamp dried up immediately and 
the first year sixteen hundred bushels of oats were raised on the ground 
it had occupied. Since then four crops of alfalfa per year have been 
raised on this ground. 



[61] 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 
ROAD BUILDING 

No farm can be properly run without good, hard roads, and the 
only way to have good roads about the farm is to lay them out correctly 
in the first place, and then grade and ditch them properly. This 
grading and ditching always takes more or less diggmg, but by 
using dynamite to loosen up the hard ground or shale, and to blast out 
the rock, roads can be built quickly and at comparatively little expense. 

To blast cuts not more than five feet deep through hard earth 
or shale, drive a bar down to within six inches or a foot of "grade," 
and in the hole thus made explode one or two cartridges of Red Cross 
S. P. I. (30* ;) Dynamite. Be sure to first tamp the charge properly. 
Holes should be spaced five to eight feet apart. In this way the 
material to be removed is not only broken up so that it can be shoveled 
very easily, but a good portion of it is spread over the surrounding 
land and does not have to be handled. 

Roads can be ditched with but litde shoveling, by exploding 
about half a cartridge of Red Cross S. P. 1 (30'() Dynamite in 
holes along the sides a foot deep and two to three feet apart. 

If it is necessary to cut through rock, the holes should be drilled 
closer together and charged heavier. When crushing stone for country 
roads and turnpikes, it will be found much cheaper to locate the crusher 
at a ledge, and blast out the rock, than to keep teams traveling over 
the whole countryside, gathering up boulders and hauling them to 
the crusher. 

DIGGING CELLARS AND FOUNDATION TRENCHES 

No farmer wants to put an expensive barn or house on a poor 
foundation, and it would be hard to find a greater benefit to a farm 
than a good cellar. The proper location for a building is on a knoll, 
and the rock often comes nearer to the surface on the knolls than it 
does in the hollows. This makes both good foundations and good 
cellars possible with the help of dynamite. With sharp drills, a 
couple of sledges, Red Cross Extra (40%) Dynamite, fuse and No. 6 
(red label) blasting caps, a cellar can be excavated, and the rock squared 

[63] 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

up for foundation or walls, in a short time and at little expense. In 
fact, it takes little, if any, more blasting to put a hou^e or •barn on 
rock, if same is to be found, than it does to quarry elsewhere the necessary 
stone for cellar and foundation walls. The rock blasted out can also 
be used for the walls and piers. 

If it is not possible to locate the house and barns on a rock, then 
the foundation trenches and cellar in the clay, gravel or shale, can be 
dug much more quickly and easily, if the material is loosened up with 
an occasional charge of Red Cross S. P. 1 (30 Sy) Dynamite. 

The stone for cement construction of all kinds can be easily blasted 
out in the proper size for the crusher with Red Cross Extra (40%) 
Dynamite. 

WELL SINKING 

Wells are frequently sunk through rock or ground which cannot 
be dug to advantage without the aid of explosives. In well sinking, 
when rock is reached and the earth or sand above is properly shored, 
a circle of four or five drill holes should be started about half-way 
between the center and the sides of the well and pointed at such an 
angle, that they will come close together near the center when they 
are three or four feet deep. These holes should be loaded about 
half full of 40 per cent. Gelatin Dynamite, with damp clay tamping 
packed firmly above this to the top of the hole, and then fired simul- 
taneously from the surface by electricity. The result of this shot will 
be to blow out an inverted cone or funnel in the center, and the 
bottom can then be squared up with another circle of holes drilled 
vertically as close to the walls as possible. If the well is large it may 
be necessary to drill a circle of holes between the inner and outer 
circle. The above process should be repeated until the well has 
passed through the rock or has been sunk to the necessary depth. 
Nothing weaker than No. 6 (red label) Electric Fuzes should be used 
to explode the Gelatin Dynamite. 

[64] 



GETTING THE FARM IN SHAPE 
DIGGING HOLES FOR POLES AND POSTS 

Much time and labor can be saved by using dynamite as an 
assistant in digging holes for poles and posts. Only enough explosive 
should be used to make the digging easy; larger charges loosen up 
the ground to such an extent, that it is difficult to make the poles or 
posts as firm as they should be. This applies particularly to large poles. 

The best way to do this blasting is to drive a crowbar down 
into the ground within six inches of the desired depth of the hole. 
In the bottom of the hole made by the crowbar, explode from one- 
quarter of a cartridge to one cartridge of Red Cross Extra (40%) 
Dynamite. Do not tamp, as this would cause the explosive to 
loosen the ground too much. 




[65] 



THE THIRD STAGE 



PREPARING THE LAND 
FOR CROPS 



PLOWING WITH DYNAMITE 
DYNAMITE IN THE ORCHARD 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 



PLOWING WITH DYNAMITE 

PLOWS have been used for many centuries to break up the 
surface of the earth, so that seeds could be easily planted 
and grow better; but from the forked stick of the savage to 
the great gang plow of the modern farmer, plows have rarely broken 
up the ground satisfactorily to a depth greater than eight or ten inches. 

In rich, open soil that is properly fertilized, plowing will break 
up the ground sufficiendy for many years, but eventually a hard stratum, 
sometimes called "plow hardpan" or "plow sole," forms just below 
the depth to which the plow reaches. This "plow sole" must be 
broken up, or the land will begin to fail. Even when "plow sole" 
does not exist, land that has been bearing crops for many years is 
wonderfully improved, if the lower soils are turned up and aerated in 
every six or eight years. 

Land that has only a thin surface soil underlaid by an impervious 
or partly impervious subsoil, sometimes known as "hardpan," will not 
produce crops at all, or else only produce them in a very limited degree, 
or for a short time only, unless the subsoil be thoroughly broken up. 
Where the fertile surface soil is fairly deep, attempts have been made 
to farm this land by means of drainage and irrigation, the surplus 
water of the wet season being drained off, and the lack of water in 
the dry season being overcome by irrigation. This system is expen- 
sive, and at best gives only temporary relief, for in the end it tends to 
increase the thickness of the hardpan, and in some localities may be 
responsible for alkali soil. The heavy rains of the wet season often 
cannot penetrate this subsoil, so the water rushes to the low ground, 
carrying much of the valuable surface soil with it. There, still unable 
to sink through the hardpan, it prevents plowing until the water 
evaporates, or causes the seed to rot if it is already in the ground. 

[69] 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

In some parts of the country, ridges or "dikes" are run at regular 
intervals over all of the higher ground, to keep the thin surface soil 
from being washed away. Considerable time and labor is required 
to make these dikes, as well as to keep them in shape, and they 
take up ground that should be bearmg crops. On land of this 
kind, drainage, irrigation, dikes, late plowing and rotting seed, could 
all be done away with if the subsoil or hardpan were properly broken up. 

There is only one practical way to upturn and aerate these lower 
soils, or to shatter hardpan, and that is by blasting. 

Subsoil and hardpan can be plowed just as effectively with ex- 
plosives as surface soil can be with a plow, and just as cheaply, too, for 
it is only necessary to do this subsoil plowing once in a number of years. 

Blasting subsoil has been practiced for some years by a few pro- 
gressive farmers in different parts of the country. These men have had 
wonderful results in the way of increased crops on land already under 
cultivation, and in transforming into excellent growing land that which 
would have been worthless without dynamite. 

It is only lately, however, that the benefits from plowing with 
dynamite have become generally recognized. The Department of 
Agriculture, the various agricultural colleges, and men prominently 
identified with farming in different parts of the country, are all now 
making a careful study of this question in order to determine the strength, 
quantity and kind of explosives, the most effective way of using them, 
and the depth and spacing of the holes, for best results. Farmers 
everywhere are experimenting on their own responsibility. Many are 
already claiming that subsoil plowing with explosives will be a common 
custom in a few years, and will represent millions of dollars in in- 
creased crops from lands already under cultivation; and more millions 
from land now producing nothing but weeds and considered entirely 
worthless. Along with this increase in land production, will be a 
reduction in expensive draining and irrigating; because when hard 
subsoils are properly shattered with explosives, the surplus water falling 
in rainy seasons sinks down to the lower soils, and does not need to 
be drained off. Neither is it necessary in dry seasons to provide water 

[71] 




SUBSOIL BLASTING 
THE RESULT— CORN RAISED ON THE BLASTED GROUND 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

by means of irrigating to keep the crops from drying up, because the 
water which has settled deep in the ground during the heavy rains, is 
drawn up in the dry season by the plant roots as they need it. 

In some places the subsoil is so close to the surface, and so hard, 
that the plant roots grow down to it but are unable to penetrate it. 
Ground of this nature will not produce crops amounting to anything 
until the subsoil has been blasted, no matter how much it is drained 
and irrigated. After being blasted, however, it often becomes wonder- 
fully productive. 

Different methods of loading and spacing the holes are practiced 
in different places, the usual distance apart in the South bemg four to 
eight feet, with a charge of about one-quarter of a 1 ,^4 x 8-inch car- 
tridge of Red Cross S. P. 1 (30^0 or Red Cross Extra (40' <) Dyna- 
mite in each hole; in Kansas and other Western States, fifteen to thirty 
feet apart, with a charge of from one to one and a half 1 ,^4 x 8-mch 
cartridges of Judson Powder FF (I 5^0' o^ Red Cross S. P. 3 (25 9r) 
Dynamite in each hole. The proper place to locate the charge so 
that it will shatter a maximum area of subsoil, is two to three feet be- 
low the surface if the hardpan is thm, and the holes are placed four to 
eight feet apart. In thick hardpan with the holes fifteen to thirty feet 
apart, the charge should be located about a foot above the bottom 
of the hardpan. 

In California, hardpan has been blasted very effectively and 
cheaply with Judson Powder R. R. P. (5 ^( ). A slow-acting dyna- 
mite does better work than a quick one, because its effect is more 
spreading. The difference in the results of the use of slow explosives 
and of quick ones on hardpan is illustrated on pages 74, 76 and 78. 

The exact size of the charge, the proper spacing of the holes, 
and their depth, depend largely on the kind of subsoil to be broken, 
its thickness and depth below the surface. 

When the bore holes are fifteen feet or more apart, it is best to 
explode a number of charges simultaneously by means of electricity, 
but when the bore holes are closer, it answers the purpose about as 
well to explode the charges with fuse and blasting caps. 

[73] 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

Land owners and farmers in Kansas and in the South, fruit growers 
in the Western States, and others, have profited enormously in the last 
few years by plowing subsoil with dynamite, and these men are 
its greatest advocates. 

In Kansas it has been the custom to use only fifty or sixty pounds 
of Red Cross Dynamite for blasting an acre of ground, and to keep 
the cost of explosives and labor below ten dollars per acre; but the 
Southern farmers insist that it is an excellent investment to spend three 
or four times as much per acre. 

As proof of the benefit of plowing with dynamite, F. G. Moughon, 
of Walton County, Georgia, refers to the phenomenal yield of 
watermelons, averaging fifty to sixty pounds each, which he has 
raised for years on land blasted with charges of about one-third of 
a 1 3^ x 8-inch cartridge of dynamite m bore holes, two and a half 
to three feet deep, spaced eight and ten feet apart. J. H. Caldwell, 
of Spartanburg, South Carolina, advocates holes two feet deep spaced 
four feet apart. He explodes in each of these about one-quarter of a 
1 I'i x 8-inch cartridge of Red Cross S. P. 1 (30^) Dynamite. These 
holes are not thoroughly tamped, but when they are loaded enough 
loose dirt is pushed into each one to close up the opening and hold 
the fuse upright. Although this lack of tamping undoubtedly results 
in wasting some of the force of the dynamite, Mr. Caldwell believes 
that it is cheaper in the end, because of the saving of time in loading 
the holes. When the ground was not blasted the corn had to be 
planted eighteen inches apart in the row, with rows four feet apart. 
The blasted ground was able to nourish stalks six inches apart, with 
the rows spaced as before. The corn on the blasted ground grew al- 
most one-half taller than that on the unblasted ground and produced 
a crop 33% greater. The corn was weighed by a committee of the 
Chamber of Commerce, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, who also 
report that the blasted ground produced fuller ears and firmer grains. 
It is impossible, in the limited space of this handbook, to give 
details concerning the results of the subsoil blasting done by many of 
those who have profited greatly by it, but J. T. Garrett, of Laurens, 

[75] 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

North Carolina, who wonderfully improved his corn and watermelon 
yield, and M. T. Williams, of Medicine Lodge, Kansas, who in- 
creased the value of his land almost tenfold for alfalfa, must be 
mentioned. 

In many parts of California, and some of the other Western States, 
true hardpan exists. The only way in which land underlaid by this 
hardpan can be made worth anything, is to break up the hardpan 
with explosives. Then fruit trees will grow and bear just as well 
as anywhere else. 

Tools Used when Blasting Subsoil 

In the South, the holes in which the dynamite is exploded are 
made by driving into the ground with sledges a steel bar, two and a 
half to three feet long, and a little larger in diameter than the dynamite 
cartridges. This bar has either a flange or a lug near the top, so that 
after it has been driven down it can be loosened with a crowbar. The 
point should be sharp but blunt, for a long, tapered point would make 
a hole so small at the bottom that the dynamite cartridge would lodge 
part way down. An illustration of this bar will be found on page 56. 

In Kansas the holes are usually bored with a two-inch dirt or 
wood auger having a long shank, as the bottom of the hardpan there 
is often several feet below the surface. A crowbar to drive stones 
out of the course of the auger is also useful. 

If you have not tried blasting subsoil, or "plowing with dyna- 
mite," we suggest that you lay off an acre, or else a plot 100 feet by 
200 feet in one of your fields, and blast it as described above. Plant 
the whole field and note how much better and heavier the crop is on 
the blasted ground. An experiment of this kind will cost but little, 
and should be the means of greatly increasing your income in the future. 



[77] 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 
DYNAMITE IN THE ORCHARD 

That dynamite is an exceedingly valuable aid in the successful 
growing of trees can no longer be doubted. Those who have tried 
it, are firmly convinced that no method of excavating the hole for the 
roots of the young tree, whatever may be the soil conditions, is so 
economical, quick or productive of as desirable after-results, as blasting 
with dynamite. 

Dynamite should be used when planting trees, because, one 
cartridge of Red Cross S. P. I. (30%) Dynamite will excavate in- 
stantly as large a hole in which to plant a tree as a man will dig in 
an hour; and because the explosion of dynamite loosens up the soil 
for many yards around, giving the tree roots a better opportunity to 
spread out than when the hole is dug by hand. The explosion also 
destroys all insects and grubs in the ground nearby. Every year or 
so during the life of the trees, small charges of Red Cross S. P. I. (309( ) 
Dynamite should be exploded midway between them, and some four 
or live feet below the surface of the ground. This tends to keep the 
soil open so that it will hold moisture and gives the tree roots every 
chance to spread, besides keeping the ground free from grubs. 

When older trees begin to fail it is sometimes of much benefit to 
detonate a charge of explosives directly under them. To do this a 
hole should be started seven or eight feet away from the tree and 
driven downward and toward the tree on a dip of about 45°. When 
the hole is in twelve feet, the bottom will be from eight to nine feet 
directly under the trunk of the tree. This hole should be "sprung," 
or "chambered," with a 1 }i x 8-inch cartridge of Red Cross Extra 
(40%) Dynamite, and then loaded with from five to ten pounds of 
Judson Powder R. R. P., with tamping above the charge to the 
mouth of the hole. The explosion of this charge breaks up the hard 
soil below the roots of the tree, so that it can hold a greater quantity 
of moisture which the tree roots will take up as they require it. The 
beneficial results from this blasting will not appear in the succeeding 
crop, but will be manifest in the second and third crops afterward. 

[79] 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

When breaking up hardpan between the trees in the California 
orange groves, it is the custom to bore down with an auger just through 
the hardpan — usually about four feet below the surface. This hole 
is "sprung" or "chambered" with one-half of a I ^4 x 8-inch cartridge 
of Hercules Stumping Powder (I09t)» ^^^ then, after being loaded 
with about one and a half pounds of Judson Powder R. R. P., and 
well tamped, is blasted. 

If the soil is inclined to be swampy, heavier charges, detonated 
deeper in the ground, will break up the lower impervious stratum, and 
permit the surplus water to sink into the earth, where it will be con- 
served, and afterwards given up to the roots of the trees as they require it. 

An example of the great benefit derived from the use of explosives, 
for excavating the holes in which young trees are to be planted, was 
recently brought to our attention by a well-known fruit grower, who 
reported that he planted nine peach trees a few years ago to determine 
positively whether anything was to be gained by using dynamite. 
Three of the trees were planted in holes made by drilling a two-inch 
auger hole three to four feet deep, and detonating a charge of explo- 
sives in the bottom; the other six trees were planted in holes of the 
regulation size dug by hand. Three years later the three trees which 
had been planted in the blasted holes were strong and healthy, and 
produced between five and six bushels of very fine p>eaches; but the 
other six trees planted on the same ground without blasting, bore prac- 
tically no peaches at all, both fruit and leaves having shrivelled up 
and dropped off during the dry season. 

A similar experience was that of a Western farmer, who set out 
an apple orchard more than twenty years ago. After digging a number 
of holes for the young trees, he decided that life was too short for such 
slow methods and drove to town where he bought a case of dynamite, 
some blasting caps and fuse from the hardware dealer. With this he 
blasted holes for the remaining trees and today, twenty years later, 
he reports that the trees planted in the blasted holes, are superior in 
every way to the others, and that they have produced better fruit, 
and more of it, ever since they began bearing. 

[81] 



PREPARING THE LAND FOR CROPS 

One successful Missouri fruit-grower states that he would never 
think of replanting where a tree had died out, without blasting the 
hole for the new tree with dynamite. The new trees then are not so 
likely to be attacked by disease, and are markedly better than those 
planted in holes which are not blasted. 

So many other similar cases have been brought to our attention, 
that we feel every fruit grower should give the question of using 
explosives careful and thorough consideration. 




A GOVERNOR, A CONGRESSMAN. AND A STATE SENATOR. WITNESSING 
A DU PONT HARDPAN BLASTING DEMONSTRATION IN KANSAS 



[83] 




X ^ 

D • 
S o 



Pi ,c 






t8 c'i-M 



THE LAST STAGE 



KEEPING UP THE FARM 



BREAKING UP ICE GORGES 
STARTING LOG JAMS 
BREAKING UP LOG ROLLWAYS 



KEEPING UP THE FARM 



AFTER a farm has been carved out of the wilderness, has been 
properly laid out and drained, with all buildings erected, 
roads graded and fences up; when wells have been driven, 
fruit trees planted and subsoil blasted, there is still work to be done 
year by year, and in much of this work the use of dynamite means a 
great saving of time and money. Its use for blasting up subsoil in land 
that is deteriorating, for blasting under and between failing fruit trees, 
and for cleaning up occasional stumps and boulders overlooked in the 
first clearing, has already been referred to. It is also necessary for 
keeping roads and ditches in shape, and is indispensable in those 
parts of the country where ice may form gorges in the streams in the 
early Spring. Unless these gorges are prompdy broken, great damage 
may be caused by the water backing up behind them and sometimes 
overflowing farms and towns, carrying away buildings and bridges. 
Dynamite is also of great importance in starting log jams, breaking 
up "rollways," etc., in the districts where timbering is carried on. 

BLASTING ICE 

Ice in streams sometimes forms jams or gorges ten to forty feet high. 
When water backs up behmd these, bridges may be carried away and 
other great damage and loss to the community result. All of this can 
be prevented at a small expense by the use of (gUjflNj) Dynamite. 

To break up floatmg ice so that a gorge will not be formed, charges 
of dynamite should be exploded on the surface of the ice, the size of 
the charge depending on the thickness of the ice. If the floating ice 
is in large sections, the work of blasting should be conducted on a 
broad, slow-running part of the stream, where it is possible to get on 

[87] 



KEEPING UP THE FARM 

to the ice either from the shore or in boats. Successive charges, con- 
sisting of a number of cartridges of Red Cross Semi-Gelatin No. 2 
(40%) tied together in a bundle, should be laid on the ice and exploded 
with fuse and blasting cap, until the ice is properly broken. When 
the streams are narrow the charges of explosives may be thrown 
on to the ice from the shores or, if the ice is running swiftly, the charges 
may be dropped on to the cakes from the down-stream side of bridges. 
The charge to be thrown on the floating ice should be prepared by 
tying securely together in a bundle, the required number of cartridges 
of Red Cross Semi-Gelatm No. 2 (40', c), the cartridge in the middle 
of the bundle having been primed with a blasting cap and waterproof 
fuse. The place where the fuse enters the blasting cap, should be 
well coated with soap or thick grease to keep water from getting into 
the blasting cap and damaging it. A block of wood, a stone, or some 
other object that would prevent its rolling should then be tied to the 
charge which, after the fuse is lighted, should be thrown or dropped 
as nearly as possible on to the middle of the ice cake. Particular at- 
tention must be given in this operation to the length of the fuse. Fuse 
generally burns from two to three feet per minute, and when the fuse 
is lighted with the dynamite still in the hands of the operator, extra 
time for possible emergencies, should be allowed. 

To blast out ice gorges the charge, usually of from five to twenty- 
five pounds of Red Cross Semi-Gelatin No. 2 (40 '^t) should be pressed 
into a hollow or crevice at what appears to be the weakest part of the 
gorge. This charge should be exploded from a distance by elec- 
tricity, so that the operator can be on shore when the explosion takes 
place and the gorge moves out. If the first shot does not start the 
gorge the process should be repeated until it is broken. To open 
great ice gorges, such as the one that formed in the Niagara River in 
April, 1 909, much larger charges are necessary. In one blast on this 
work a charge of two thousand five hundred pounds of Red Cross 
Dynamite was exploded. 

Watering places for stock along the banks of streams can be easily 
kept free from ice in winter by the use of a little dynamite from time 
to time. 

[89] 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

Since ice blasting is always done in cold weather, it is necessary 
to give particular attention to having the dynamite thoroughly thawed. 
If this is not done poor results will follow. Red Cross Dynamite is 
always recommended for this work, because it is not so easily affected 
by cold weather as other standard brands, and can be thawed more 
quickly. 

"STARTING" LOG JAMS 

Red Cross Semi-Gelatin No. 2 (40'^) is invaluable for breaking 
log jams. A charge exploded on a log, above or below water, will 
cut it in two as readily as can be done with an axe, with the advantage 
of the operator being at a safe distance when the jam "starts." 

BREAKING UP "ROLLWAYS" 

Red Cross Semi-Gelatin No. 2 (40 '^() can be used to great ad- 
vantage in breaking up "rollways" of logs, large quantities of this 
powerful explosive being used each season by the lumbermen. A 
case of this explosive, thawed m the morning, will, if covered by an 
old coat or blanket and protected from the cold, be ready for use at 
any time during that day. The huge piles of logs, frozen and bound 
together with snow and ice, can be instantly loosened with a little 
dynamite instead of prying them apart slowly and laboriously with 
cant hooks and levers. At a season when time is truly money, the 
dynamite used m this way saves many times its cost. The cases of 
dynamite can be transported easily and safely if properly handled. 
No logging camp can afford to be without it a single day when engaged 
in this work. 



[90] 



EXPLOSIVES AND 
BLASTING SUPPLIES 



HOW TO HANDLE, STORE AND 
USE THEM 



BLASTING BY ELECTRICITY 




50-lb. Case Red Cross S. P. I, Ux8" 



- ion- i'^* 
5-F 



50-lb. Case Red Cross 5 F, 11x8" 



40">3'"V ^sjiS-" 



50-lb. Case Red Cross Semi-Gelatin 
No. 2, 1 1x8" 




50-lb. Case Red Cross Extra, 1 1x8" 




50-lb. Case Hercules L. F. Stumping 
Powder. |i,x8" 






50-lb. Case Hercules No. 1, Hx8" 



• ^- It Hi' * 




50-lb. Case Judson R. R. P.. 4 bat 







50-lb. Case Judson FF, I'xS" 




25-lb. Steel Keg FF Blasting Powder 



25-lb. Pulp Keg FFF Blasting Powder 



PRINCIPLE OF EXPLOSIVES 



BLASTING Explosives are divided into two general classes, 
known as High Explosives and Low Explosives; Red Cross 
Dynamite and Judson Powder are examples of the former, 
and Blasting Powder of the latter. They are solids, having bound 
up in themselves very powerful energy which, when properly directed, 
can be made to do an enormous amount of valuable work. To get 
them to do this work economically, they must be closely confined in the 
midst of the material which is to be broken or thrown out, and then 
exploded, that is, instandy changed from a small volume of a solid to 
a very large volume of a gas. Low Explosives (Blasting Powder) 
will do but little, if any work, if not tighdy confined or corked up, 
when exploded, but High Explosives change from a solid to a gas 
so quickly, that they will jar and break material on which they are 
lying when they explode, even if they are confined very litde, as in 
"mudcapping" or "blistering" boulders, or if not confined at all, as 
when floating ice is blasted. 

Low Explosives are exploded by a spark, but a spark will not 
explode High Explosives, although it may ignite them, and the heat 
and pressure caused by burning in a confined space may result in an 
explosion after a time. 

High Explosives can only be properly exploded by a very power- 
ful shock. This shock is brought about in their use by exploding a 
detonator which has been inserted in the charge of explosives. This 
detonator is either a blasting cap, which is exploded by a spark from 
the fuse, or an electric fuze (pronounced fu-zee) which is exploded 
by a fine wire superheated by an electric current. 

When fuse and blasting caps are used it is necessary for the blaster 
to cut the necessary length of fuse from a roll, and fasten the blasting 

[93] 




12i-lb. Bag of Judson Powder R. R. P. 




+ S.R I. 



"^-.-^y 



1 1x8" Cartridge of Red Cross S. P. 1 




,n p. i ,„ j ; . m,„„^„ , ^^„ . „,,.„; „, i l^| ^n^mn^^ |l mg|)n^n ^^ |n n 



HERCULES STUMPINQ-L. F. J 



I jx8" Cartridge of Hercules Stumping L. F. Powder 



SEMI-GELATIN 
I No, 2, 
40', STRENGTH 



I |x8" Cartridge of Red Cross Semi-Gelatin No. 2 






EXTRA 

40' STRENGTH 



I Jx8" Cartridge of Red Cross Extra 





*f«S.P.3 



1 1x8" Cartridge of Red Cross S. P. 3 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

cap to the freshly cut end of the fuse with a cap crimper. The electric 
fuze is furnished with the two wires sealed into it. 

Blasting Powder is exploded by the spark from fuse or an electric 
squib, no detonator being required. 

The Detonator 

When "High Explosives" were first manufactured, they were not 
as safe to handle or use as the properly-made ones now are. Con- 
sequently they could be exploded with a small and weak detonator. 
The standard explosives now manufactured cannot be completely 
exploded, and give best results, if anything weaker than a No. 6 
(red label) detonator is used with them. Nevertheless, many dealers 
will sell to inexperienced consumers No. 3 or No. 4 detonators, simply 
because the price is a little lower than that of stronger ones. This 
they do regardless of the fact that the reduction in price is much more 
than offset by the loss of power due to the incomplete detonation of 
the explosive with which these weak detonators are used. 

Judson Powder R. R. P., is granular, and to give best results 
should be detonated with dynamite of not less than 40 per cent, strength, 
the quantity of dynamite necessary depending on the size of the charge 
of Judson Powder. (See page 37.) 

Storage 

Explosives should be stored in a dry, well-ventilated place not 
warmer than 80° or 90° F. They should always be kept under lock 
and key, so that children, or irresponsible people will not have access 
to them, and should not be stored in a locality where hunting or other 
shooting may be done, unless they are kept in a bullet-proof building. 

Most High Explosives freeze at a temperature between 45° and 
50° F., and when frozen will explode either only imperfecdy or not 
at all. Frozen dynamite should therefore never be used 
under any circumstances. 

Red Cross Explosives and Hercules Stumping L. F. Powder, 
belong to a class of explosives that do not freeze as readily as other 

[95] 




A DIFFICULT PROBLEM 

Although the tree had been cut from this stump for many years, 

the stump was still comparatively solid. 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

standard explosives. They are particularly adapted to blasting 
about the farm, owing to the fact that they do not freeze until 
water freezes and thaw when ice melts. When exposed to extremely 
low temperatures they freeze more slowly, and if warmed thaw more 
quickly, than any other dynamite. Therefore, when they are used, the 
time, trouble and possible danger attached to the thawing of dynamite 
is reduced to a minimum. To the farmer who, perhaps has only an 
occasional call to use High Explosives, Red Cross Dynamite and 
Hercules Stumping L. F. Powder are invaluable. On large opera- 
tions where a considerable amount of dynamite is used, the great 
saving in time, trouble and expense, as well as the reduction of danger 
in thawing to a minimum, are points that cannot be overlooked. 

Packages and Transportation 

Du Pont High Explosives (except Judson Powder, which is 
usually put up in paper bags) are put up in cartridges, generally 
1 ]'i x 8-inch, and then packed with sawdust in wooden cases. 
They can, when thus packed, be shipped on freight trains or carried 
in wagons with but little danger of explosion. There have been in- 
stances where they have been dropped, and the cases smashed, with- 
out an explosion resulting, showing that these High Explosives stand 
very rough treatment; still it should never be forgotten that they 
are explosives, and we would particularly direct the reader's 
attention to page 11 3 of this catalogue, where stress has been laid on 
"What Not to Do." If these instructions are observed, the user need 
have no fear of an accidental explosion. 

Thawing 

There are various ways of thawing High Ex- 
plosives but the only safe methods are those which 
thaw slowly and gradually. 

Burying dynamite in water-tight boxes in 
manure is a safe and fairly effective way to thaw 
Catasauqua Thawing Kettle it, providcd the manure is fresh. 

[97] 





HI a 

h5 



o .t 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 




Bradford Thawing Kettle 



The safest and best way is in a "thawing kettle." A thawing 
kettle is a double galvanized iron bucket having an outside space for 
hot water, and an inner water-tight receptacle for the dynamite. The 
Catasauqua Thawing Kettles are made in one piece, while the Brad- 
ford Thawing Kettle is in effect two pails, the outer one for hot water 
and the inner one for the dynamite. (See illustrations.) 

Never thaw dynamite by putting it 
near a fire, nor in the oven, nor agamst a 
stove or steam pipe. Do not try to thaw 
by exposing dynamite to steam nor by soak- 
ing it in hot water. 

It is not at all necessary that the car- 
tridges should feel warm. All that is 
necessary is to have them soft all the 
way through. 

Every user of dynamite who has occa- 
sion to thaw it, should make it a rule never 
to heat water in the thawing kettle, but in some other receptacle, and 
then after removing the dynamite, pour the hot water into the water 
compartment. This water should not be so hot that it would burn the 
hand. The Miners' Thawing Kettle will protect dynamite from the 
cold better, and keep it in good condition longer, than either of the 
others, but its capacity is small. This ketde would soon be damaged if 
an attempt were made to heat the water in it. Water may be heated in 
the outer pail of the Bradford Thawing Kettle provided the inner 

pail has been removed, but it is 
never safe to put a one-piece 
thawing kettle over a fire, even 
after the dynamite has been re- 
moved, because enough nitro- 
glycerin may have leaked out 
from dynamite previously thawed, 
to cause an explosion if the thaw- 
ing ketde is put over a fire. 




Miners' Thawing Kettle 



[99] 




Ip^ 



TAKING OUT CAP 



CUTTING FUSE 





PLACING CAP ON FUSE 




CRIMPING 



MAKING HOLE IN T 
OF CARTRI DOE 






INSERTING 
FUSE AND CAP IN 
CARTRIDGE 



FOLDING CARTRIDGE 
PAPER AROUND FUSE 




TYING CARTRIDGE 
PAPER AROUND FUSE 



ONE METHOD OF MAKING A PRIMER WITH BLASTING CAP AND FUSE 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

A simple and effective tnawing arrangement may be made by 
suspending a small pail or bucket containing the dynamite, in a larger 
bucket partly filled with warm water. Care must be taken to pre- 
vent any of the water from getting into the inner pail, which should 
have a tight-fitting lid. The whole should be covered with a piece 
of carpet, or an old coat, until the dynamite has thawed. 

Priming 

Placing the detonator in a cartridge or charge of high explosives 
is called priming it, and the cartridge or part of a cartridge with the 
detonator in it is called the "primer" or "primer cartridge." 

The first step in the preparation of the primer is to cut the necessary 
length of fuse from the roll, cutting it squarely across and not diagonally. 
After carefully inserting the fresh cut end as far as it will go into the 
blasting cap, fasten the latter securely to the fuse with a cap crimper. 
When crimping the blasting cap to the fuse, the crimp should be made 
near the end which the fuse enters so as not to disturb in any way the 
explosive which the blasting cap contams. An attempt to crimp 
the blasting cap near the other end would be likely to cause it to 
explode. The crimp should be made secure enough to prevent the 
fuse from pulling out of the blasting cap, during the charging and 
tamping of the bore hole, and, what is quite as important, particularly 
in wet work, the crimp should be tight enough to keep water out of the 
blasting cap. A coating of soap, tallow or thick grease, spread over 
the fuse where it enters the blasting cap will help greatly to keep 
the water out. This grease should not be applied until after the blasting 
cap has been crimped to the fuse. Oil should not be used for this 
purpose as it may soak into the fuse and damage it. 

Be sure to cut the fuse long enough to allow it to extend several 
inches from the mouth of the bore hole when the primer is in place, 
arid also long enough for the blaster to reach a place of safety before 
the charge explodes. Fuse burns from two to three feet per minute. 

To prime a dynamite, or other high explosive cartridge, with 
blasting cap and fuse, make a hole in the end of the cartridge after 

[101] 



CUTTING FUSE 



..' ^* 



TAKING OUT CAP 






INSERTING 

FUSE AND CAP IN SIDE 

OF CARTRIDGE 



TYING STRING TO FUSE 



'^^L TYING FUSE 

S:- TO CARTRIDGE 



ANOTHER METHOD OP MAKING A PRIMER WITH BLASTING CAP AND FUSE 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

unfolding the paper shell, or in the side of the cartridge near one 
end, with a small pointed stick, about the diameter of a lead pencil. 
This hole should not be much larger in diameter than the blasting 
cap, for an air space around it always detracts from the force with 
which a blasting cap shoots into the explosive. The blasting cap 
should not be so deep in the cartridge, that the fuse will come 
in contact with the explosive for any appreciable distance, as side 
spitting of the fuse usually ignites the explosive. 

Best results will be had if the blasting cap is pointed straight 
down into the primer cartridge. 

When the blasting cap has been put in the end of the cartridge, 
the paper must be folded carefully about the fuse, and tied 
securely with a piece of string. When the blasting cap is inserted in 
the side of the cartridge near the end, the fuse is held in position 
by tying it with a double loop of string around the cartridge. Both 
of these methods of priming are clearly shown in the illustrations on 
pages 100 and 102. 

Charging 

Having primed the cartridge in the manner described, insert it in the 
bore hole and push it carefully home. It is sometimes well in dry 
ground, to slit the paper shells lengthwise before putting the 
cartridges into the bore hole. Push them firmly into place so that 
they will fill up the diameter of the hole, for crevices or air spaces 
greatly lessen the power of an explosive. If more than one cartridge 
is used in a charge, it is only necessary to prime the top or outside 
one, but in the bore hole each cartridge must touch the one previously 
loaded. If any space between the cartridges occurs through falling 
dirt or stones, or through the sticking of a cartridge in the bore hole, 
a partial misfire may result. 

Tamping 

After the charge is pressed home, as directed, put in two or three 
inches of fine dirt or sand, and tamp (pack) lightly. Then fill up 
two or three inches more of the hole with tamping material, packing it 

[103] 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

in a little more firmly. After five or six inches of tamping covers the 
charge, the tamping may be pressed firmly into place without danger of 
premature explosion. The tamping m.aterial should be packed as firmly 
on top of the charge as can be done without moving the electric fuze 
or blasting cap and fuse in the primer, but it is not safe to tamp by a 
blow any stronger than can be given by hand. Fill the bore hole up 
with tamping until even with the surface. The firmer and harder the 
tamping can be made (without overlooking the above precautions) 
the better will be the results. If the bore hole is not properly tamped, 
the charge is likely to "blow out," or at any rale some of its force will 
be wasted. 

Be sure the tamping is done with a wooden stick. Never use 
a metal bar or anything having metal parts. 



NOTES 

When you buy explosives get nothing but the best. Remember 
that dynamite is nothing but Concentrated Power, and when 
you buy a case of dynamite you are getting a hundred or so 
Little Giants who are going to do a great deal of work with 
one blow. You cannot see strength, you can only perceive its 
effects. And therefore, when you buy, your only safe way is to get 
something others have tried and found good. Nearly a thousand 
different kinds of explosives have been put on the market, but those 
that have survived and are known to be good can be counted on one s 
fingers. All others have fooled the people for awhile and then 
disappeared from the market, though in the first place each was sold 
as being "just as good" as (g jlPDN T) Explosives. 

Always be careful when using dynamite, not to taste it nor get 
it on the hands, for the smallest quantity will neady always cause a 
violent headache. It is an excellent plan to wear a pair of old gloves, 
which should be destroyed before they become saturated with the 
nitroglycerin in the dynamite. With a little care, a great deal of 
dynamite can be handled before it is necessary to destroy the gloves. 

[104] 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 
BLASTING SUPPLIES 

When detonating high explosives with fuse and blasting caps, the 
only supplies necessary besides the fuse and blasting caps, and the 
tools for making the hole and for tamping, are the cap crimper and 
thawing ketde. The latter has been described under the paragraph 
on "Thawing," page 99. 

When the blasting is done by electricity, a blasting machine, coil 
of leading wire and electric fuzes, take the place of fuse and blasting 
caps. A spool of connecting wire and roil of insulating tape should 
also be provided. A leading wire reel is not a necessity, but saves 
time and keeps the leading wire in good condition. 

Fuse 

Fuse is made in several different grades, put up in double coils 
consisting of two smgle coils of fifty feet each, and packed in cases 
containing from five hundred to six thousand feet. In wet work, 
"double tape" or "triple tape" fuse should be used, while "single 
tape" or "cotton" will answer in dry work. Fuse should be stored in 
a cool, dry place to keep it from hardening and "breaking" when it is 
unrolled, or from getting soft and defective. In cold weather fuse 
becomes stiff and must be unrolled very carefully to keep it from 
breaking. Most fuse burns from two to three feet per minute. 



COIL OP FUSE 



Blasting Caps 

Blasting caps are small copper cylinders closed at one end, which 
contain a sensitive and highly explosive compound. They must al- 
ways be handled carefully, kept away from heat or sparks, and must 

[105] 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

not be subjected to heavy knocks or jars. They should never be 
carried loose in the pocket, nor permitted to lie about where children 
may find them. They are very dangerous in the hands of a child or 
irresponsible person. They should never be stored or carried with 
dynamite, because they are more easily exploded by accident than is 
dynamite, and if they explode in close proximity to dynamite, they 
will probably cause it to explode also, and do great damage. If 
blasting caps are to do good work, they must be stored in a perfectly 
dry place, and must not be permitted to lie in a damp place for even 
a short time before using. The charge which they contain is very 
quickly damaged by moisture, and although it may explode when 
damp, it detonates with so litde force that it may not explode the 
charge of dynamite, or may only partly explode it. 

Blasting caps are put up in tin boxes containing one hundred each. 
These boxes are then packed in wooden cases containing from five 
hundred to five thousand blasting caps. They are manufactured and 
sold in six sizes— No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8, but 
nothing weaker than the No. 6 (red label) can be depended on to 
develop the full strength of the explosive with which they are used. 
No. 6 Blasting Caps vary a little in length, but are not shorter than 
1 3 8 inches, while the No. 5 (blue label) size is usually 1 ^^ inches long, 
and the No. 3 (Silver Medal) and No. 4 (Gold Medal) sizes, 1 inch 
long. It is a good rule never to buy a blasting cap shorter than 1 % 
inches or too small in diameter for tape fuse to fit snugly into it. 




ss»> 



DU PONT NO. 6 BLASTING CAPS 



[106] 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

Cap Crimpers 

The two styles of cap crimpers which are most reliable are known 
as the (|UP0NT) Cap Crimper and the California Cap Crimper, 




DU PONT CAP CRIMPER 




CALIFORNIA CAP CRIMPER 



A cap crimper is inexpensive, and absolutely necessary if the blast- 
ing cap is to be properly fastened to the safety fuse. Fastening blasting 
caps to fuse with a knife or with the teeth, is exceedingly dangerous 
and inefficient. 




[107] 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 
BLASTING BY ELECTRICITY 

When a good deal of blasting is to be done, it is usual to set off 
the blast by means of a blasting machine and electric fuzes. In this 
way any number of charges from one up to forty or more can be fired 
simultaneously. This is found very convenient when it is necessary 
to get rid of a large stump or an extra big boulder, as frequently several 
charges fired at the same time will do more work than the same charges 
fired successively, or than one charge as big as all of the smaller 
ones combmed. 

A very little thought will show that more work will be done when 
firing a number of blasts simultaneously, than when firing them 
singly, while a little experience will teach that much is to be gained 
by firing even single shots electrically. Another advantage gained in 
firing by electricity is, that in case of a misfire (which can rarely hap- 
pen by this method), it is unnecessary to wait a considerable time 
before returning to the work, as must be done when using safety fuse. 

Directions 

Use electric fuzes, leading and connecting wire, and blasting 
machine instead of fuse and blasting caps. The electric fuze wires 
must be long enough to extend several inches out of the bore hole, 
and care must be taken when tamping not to break these wires or 
damage the insulation on them. If more than one charge is to be 
fired at one time, separate the two electric fuze wires extending from 
each hole and connect one of these wires to one extending from the 
hole on one side, and the other one to one of the wires extending 
from the hole on the other side, and so on, until all are connected 
together in a string with one free wire extending from the first hole, 
and another extending from the last hole. If the electric fuze wires 
are not long enough to reach each other, use a piece of connecting 
wire to join them. 

Be sure that all wire ends are scraped clean and bright before 
they are connected together. 

The charges having all been connected as directed above, the 
free wire of the first hole should be joined to one of the "leading" 
wires, and the free wire of the last hole to the other leading wire. 
The leading wires should be long enough to reach a point at a safe 
distance from the blast — say two hundred and fifty feet, at least. 

[108] 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

All being ready, and not until everybody is at a safe distance, 
connect the leading wires to the binding posts on the top of the 
blasting machine, through each of which a hole is bored for the 
purpose, and bring the wing nuts down firmly upon the wires. 

Now, to fire: If using a push-down blasting machine, take hold 
of the handle, lift the rock bar (square rod toothed upon one side) to 
its full height and push it down with all force, bringing it to the bottom 
of the box with a solid thud, and the blast will be made. 

The Reliable Blasting Machine 

This is a push-down blasting machine made in three sizes: No. 2, 
which will fire up to 20 electric fuzes at one time; No. 3, which will 
fire up to 30 electric fuzes at one time, and No. 4, which will fire up 
to 50 electric fuzes at one time. The No. 3 size is made with three 
posts when so ordered, without extra cost, and the No. 4 size is always 
made with three posts. 

Blasting machines with three posts can be used with either two 
or three leading wires. When used with two leading wires, one wire 
is connected to the middle post and the other to either one of the out- 
side posts. When used with three leading wires, those from the two 
outside posts are connected to the electric fuzes on the ends of the cir- 
cuit, and that from the middle post is connected to the electric fuze 
wire, or the connecting wire, somewhere near the middle of the circuit. 




METHOD OF CONNECTING TWO LEADING WIRES TO A THREE-POST 
BLASTING MACHINE 



[109] 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 




METHOD OF COXNECTIXG THREE WIRES TO A THREE-POST BLASTING MACHIXE 

Leading Wire 

At least two hundred and fifty feet double of leading wire should 
be provided, so that the blaster will be out of danger when he fires 
the shot. If the blast is a large one, it will probably be necessary for 

the blaster to be 300 or even 300 feet 
away. Leading wire is sold in 250 
feet, 300 feet, and 500 feet coils. 
It is sold by the pound, and 
weighs about two pounds to the 
hundred feet. 

Connecting Wire 

Connecting wire is used to connect electric 
fuze wires in adjoining bore holes when the 
wires are not long enough to reach each other. 
It is wound on spools holding one pound or two 
pounds, and is sold by the pound. 

Electric Fuzes 

The electric fuze is a blasting cap having 

SPOOL OF CONNECTING ^wo insulatcd copper wires fastened into it with 

^^^^'^ a composition plug. These wires are joined 

together in the cap by a very fine and delicate wire, which rough 

handling may break and make the electric fuze worthless. The charge 

[110] 




EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 





VICTOR NO. 6 (RED LABEL) ELECTRIC FUZES 

which they contain is just as sensitive to shock, and just as easily affected 
by moisture, as that of the blasting cap; so the same rules for storing 
and handling must be observed. Electric fuzes are put up twenty- 
five or fifty in pasteboard cartons, which are packed for shipment in 
wooden cases. They are made in four grades: No. 4 (yellow label). 
No. 6 (red label), No. 7 (brown label), and No. 8 (green label), and 
with wires from four feet to thirty feet long. The strength of electric 
fuzes is exactly the same as that of blasting caps bearing the same 
number, and nothing weaker than the No. 6 grade can be depended 
on for best results from high explosives. The copper cap of the Victor 
No. 6 Electric Fuze is 1 ^2 inches to 1 ^% inches long. The cartons 
of Victor No. 6 Electric Fuzes always have red labels on both ends. 

To Prime a Cartridge with Electric Fuze 

The correct way to prime a high explosive cartridge with an 
electric fuze, is to follow the same methods as when fuse and blastmg 
caps are used. (See pages 100 and 102.) 

The common custom of taking one or more loops, or half hitches, 
around the cartridge with the wires themselves, after inserting the fuze 
cap in a hole made diagonally in the side of the cartridge near one 
end, is always to be condemned. The principal objection is that 
the looping of the wires is very likely to break the insulation, causing 
short circuits, or leakage of electric current in wet work. Sometimes 
even the wires themselves are broken. 

[Ill] 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

Ordering 

Never think that because the order may be small, it is not worth 
while to get the very best quality of High Explosives, nor to learn 
how best to use them. The Du Pont Company supplies High 
Explosives (Dynamite), Blastmg Powder, Blasting Caps, Fuse, Electric 
Fuzes, Blastmg Machines, Wire, etc. These goods are always kept 
in stock. The Du Pont Company is always glad to answer any 
questions, and to send, free of charge, any of its illustrated catalogues 
on application. 

If there is an uncertainty as to what grade of explosive will be 
required for any work, a letter, addressed to the nearest office of the 
Du Pont Company, telling just what work is to be done, is requested 
and will have the most careful attention. (See list of Branch Offices 
on the last page.) 

If the work to be done warrants it, the Du Pont Company 
will be pleased to send to any part of the world at its own expense a 
competent man to explain the use of its explosives. 

All orders for explosives, whether large or small, are filled by 
the Du Pont Company from its nearest stock, thus ensuring prompt 
and regular deliveries to its customers. 



If you use explosives you want the best. Insist 
that your dealer sell you (qJHT) GOODS AND 
NOTHING ELSE. They are the result of practical 
experience in the manufacture and use of explosives 
for more than a century. If your dealer does not 
handle (@UPDN^ brands, write us, and we will see that 
your wants are supplied. 



[112] 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

Precautions to Be Observed in General with Regard 
to Explosives 

DON'T forget the nature of explosives, but remember that with 
proper care they can be handled with comparative safety. 

DONT smoke while you are handling explosives, and DONT handle 
explosives near an open light. 

DONT shoot into explosives with a rifle or pistol either in or out 
of a magazme. 

DONT leave explosives in a field or any place where stock can get 
at them. Cattle like the taste of the soda and saltpetre in 
explosives, but the other ingredients would probably make 
them sick or kill them. 

DONT handle or store explosives in or near a residence. 

DONT leave explosives in a wet or damp place. They should 
be kept in a suitable, dry place, under lock and key, and 
where children or irresponsible persons cannot get at them. 

DONT explode a charge to chamber a bore hole and then imme- 
diately reload it, as the bore hole will be hot and the second 
charge may explode prematurely. 

DONT do tamping with iron or steel bars or tools. Use only a 
wooden tamping stick with no metal parts. 

DONT force a primer into a bore hole. 

DONT explode a charge before everyone is well beyond the danger 
zone and protected from flying debris. Protect your supply 
of explosives also from danger from this source. 

DONT hurry in seeking an explanation for the failure of a charge 
to explode. 

DONT drill, bore or pick out a charge which has failed to explode. 
Drill and charge another bore hole at least two feet from the 
missed one. 

[1131 



HANDBOOK OF EXPLOSIVES 

DON'T use two kinds of explosives in the same bore hole except where 
one IS used as a primer to detonate the other, as where dyna- 
mite is used to detonate Judson Powder. The quicker explo- 
sive may open cracks in the rock and allow the slower to 
blow out through these cracks doing little or no work. 

DON'T use frozen or chilled explosives. Most dynamite, except Red 
Cross, freezes at a temperature between 45° F. and 50° F. 

DON'T use any arrangement for thawing dynamite other than one of 
those recommended by the DU PONT COMPANY. 

DON'T thaw dynamite on heated stoves, rocks, sand, bricks or metal, 
or in an oven, and don't thaw dynamite in front of, near or 
over a steam boiler or fire of any kind. 

DON'T take dynamite into or near a blacksmith shop or near a forge 
on open work. 

DON'T put dynamite on shelves or anything else directly over steam 
or hot water pipes or other heated metal surface. 

DON'T cut or break a dynamite cartridge while it is frozen, and don't 
rub a cartridge of dynamite in the hands to complete thawing. 

DON'T heat a thawing house with pipes containing steam under 
pressure. 

DON'T allow priming (the placing of a blasting cap or electric fuze 
in dynamite) to be done in a thawing house or magazine. 

DON'T place a hot water thawer over a fire, and never put dynamite 
into hot water or allow it to come in contact with steam. 

DON'T allow thawed dynamite to remain exposed to low temperature 
before using it. If it freezes again before it is used it must be 
thawed again. 

DON'T carry blasting caps or electric fuzes in your pocket. 

DON'T tap or otherwise investigate a blasting cap or electric fuze. 

[114] 



EXPLOSIVES AND BLASTING SUPPLIES 

DON'T attempt to take blasting caps from the box by inserting a wire, 
nail or other sharp instrument. 

DONT try to withdraw the wires from an electric fuze. 

DON'T fasten a blasting cap to the fuse with the teeth or by flattening 
it with a knife — use a cap crimper. 

DON'T keep electric fuzes, blasting machines or blasting caps in a 
damp place. 

DON'T attempt to use electric fuzes with the regular insulation in very 
wet work. For this purpose secure "Victor Water Proof " 
Electric Fuzes. 

DON'T worry along with old, broken leading wire or connecting wire. 
A new supply won't cost much and will pay for itself many 
times over, 

DON'T handle fuse carelessly in cold weather, for when cold it is 
stiff and breaks easily. 

DON'T store or transport blasting caps or electric fuzes with high 
explosives. 

DON'T store fuse in a hot place, as this m.ay dry it out so that uncoil- 
ing will break it. 

DON'T "lace " fuse through dynamite cartridges. This practice is 
frequently responsible for the burning of the charge. 

DON'T operate blasting machines half-heartedly. They are built to 
be operated with full force. They must be kept clean and 
dry. 

DON'T cut the fuse short to save time. It is dangerous economy. 

DON'T expect a cheap article to give as good results as a high- 
grade one. * 

DON'T expect explosives to do good work if you try to explode 
them with a detonator weaker than a No. 6 (red label). 

[115] 



SPOK 



One-Pound Metal Canisters For Black Sporting Powders 




r.' IF ^ 





SupH 



Smokeless Shotgun Powders 

METAL CANISTERS 






These canisters contain "one pound bulk" of Smokeless Shotgun 
Powder, equivalent to 16 oz. of Black Sporting Powder 



Du Pont Sporting Powders 

Black and Smokeless 

Best for Field and 
Target Shooting 

When buying your powder in bulk 
or loaded in shells, make sure that 
your dealer supplies you with one of 
the DU PONT powders. 

A day in the field after game will 
give you the most enjoyment if your 
shells are loaded with a fully guar- 
anteed powder. 

Write for information. 



NOTE.— Du Pont Black Rifle Powder will not only give 
perfect satisfaction in your shotgun, but, if no blasting powder 
is to be had, Rifle Powder can be used very successfully for 
splitting logs, as described on page 4 1 . 

TiTti 







nn 



■* Si ii 



"^^^^ ^Ht'^iHi w ppMr r^uu-" 

il il liii 



l^^MEliJiJi^ 





DU PONT HOME OFFICE— Wilmington, Del., U. S. A.— November. liHu 



■ARE- 

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